


Book one - Snowflake case

by Karonteryuu



Series: The fallen queens [1]
Category: Wings of Fire - Tui T. Sutherland
Genre: Adventure, Blood, Gen, Magic, Monarchy, Prophecy, dragon - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-08
Updated: 2019-12-15
Packaged: 2020-11-27 07:01:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 30,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20944259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Karonteryuu/pseuds/Karonteryuu
Summary: This story is based on the world of Wings of Fire from the author Tui T. Sutherland. Any species and powers come from there.This story, this alternate universe, is based on a dream I got once.Seven dragons had usurpated the thrones of every kingdom taking control over them. A team of elite has been reunited to try and stop them.Snowflake, the ice dragon, just started this dangerous adventure with friends she didn't even imagine to meet.





	1. Epiloge

In the vast continent of Hohonu the sun was starting to rise in the horizon shining soft and warm giving a pleasant feeling in the dragons who decided to take a trip to view the dawn. In the mountains the birds started to sing giving a welcome to the new day that has just started. The wind flow through the mountains making a relaxing sound while the leaves moves and some of them begin to fall, indicating that autumn was just a couple of weeks to arrive.

Inside the mountains, hidden from all curious and unwanted visitors, it was a cave that only a very few dragons knew about their location. In there lived three dragons who were responsible of a very important role. Litchi, a young raingwing with jade scales and a small tattoo on his arm, was running through the hallways skipping multiple rooms but with a clear objective. At the end he found the study room of his mentor where he entered quickly but then he stopped immediately at the entrance.

This room was filled with multiple shelves, all of them filled with scrolls and papers ordered in different ways. Multiple rocks illuminated the place with brightness imitating the sunshine, this enables all dragons in there to read without the need to go outside. In the wall in front the entrance, just in the middle, was a desk so you could put a scroll over it and read it comfortably. But in this case that desk was being used by another dragon, one bigger and clearly more mature than Litchi with silver scales and a tattoo similar to the small dragon, only that it was in his chest. He was reading one of the scrolls giving his back to the young dragon.

“I’m sorry!” said Litchi with a hurried voice “I’m sorry for being late, Frostbite!” saying that dragon’s name with a worried voice.

The silver dragon put his talon on the scroll apparently in the place he stopped reading to turn his head afterwards so he could look closely at his company. Litchi could see that the older dragon had a disapproving look making him feel more guilty to arrive late.

“Jade scales” said Frostbite in a serious tone while he turned around his head again to look at his scroll again. “This is the third day in a row” while he took an hourglass that had aside the scroll, which one was pouring his sand from the upper part to the bellow one, and put it over it where he had his talon. “At least you are worry about this” giving a deep sigh that showed cold wind from his snout.

The emerald dragon knew what he was talking about the color of his scales. As a rainwing he had the ability to change the color of his scales at will, but he had the bad habit to change them unaware of it every time he felt a strong feeling. In this case was worry and guilt. That allowed to his mentor and partner know how he felt at every moment very easily.

“Ah… I…” Litchi started to stammer at the same time he moved his look away from Frostbite eyes at the same time his scales turned a little darker “Yesterday was a rough night”

“Yeah, I understand” Frostbite answered him while he observed the entrance and looked at Litchi again “Going to swim to the lake is very _rough_” tilting his head a little.

“Oh!” raised his head and opened his eyes surprised by the answer of his mentor, changing at the same time his scales to a sky-blue color “How did you… know?”

“I saw Thoughtseeker and you flying from there” while he stand up and started walking to the entrance “While I slipped away for a moment too” giving a friendly smile to Litchi and making a gesture to make him follow him “Talking about her, where is she?”

“I don’t know” answered changing again his scales now being orange “When I woke up she wasn’t in the room and I thought she was already with you”

“I’m going to talk with her in another moment” giving a soft pause “After punish her, obviously”

“Don’t be hard with her” said with haste to defend her, now showing chocolate scales “She sometimes want to be alone, with her thoughts”

Toughtseeker was her friend or partner in their important role. She was a nightwing with the same age as him, with purple scales covering his body and silver ones at the side of her eyes simulating teardrops. But with those silver scales they came with a very powerful ability, to read minds. Litchi and Frostbite knew about it and knew how that could be very annoying for her, so she used to scape for herself to avoid reading his comrades thoughts.

“I’ll keep it in mind when I talk with her” seriously at the same time he stopped in front a huge door.

Made in stone It was formed by two individual doors in a rectangular shape, both with the height of three adult dragons and the width of one and a half. At the same time each counted with a bar so you could pull or push it to open them. On them was carved the emblems of each kingdom with accompanied with a dragon of that clan. Mud, Rain and Sand in the left one; Ice, Night and Sea in the right, while the Sky was on top of rest.

Litchi understood that for Frostbite was a door that he looked for decades and maybe he was already bored about it, and it could be the same future to the little dragon. But even knowing it, he couldn’t stop to feel interest and admiration by that work.

“Litchi” talked the silver dragon with a high tone so he could take the attention of his companion “Let’s see how your studies are going. What is this?” pointing at the door in front of them.

“Ah… It’s the first thing you thought us” he looked again to the door and looked down to think while his scales turned a peach color “The door of the seven seals” answered directly “The door that guards the seven seals”

“What are the seven seals?” asked again with the same serious tone.

“They are…” with doubt in his memories “They’re a mechanism that keeps in jail to ‘_Las Indignas_’” he looked the door again and watched the dragons in there. Those dragons were in there to represent them “If the seven seals are activated, they’re going to be released. That’s why we are in here, to keep it safe for all the kingdoms.”

Frostbite nodded with his head “You are right. Want to go inside?” pointing with his head to the door.

“Inside?!” Litchi exclaimed surprised changing his scales to a dark blue “Me too?! I’ve never been inside” enthusiastic.

“Thoughtseeker and you have already five years living in here, with me” started to explain “Both of you are going to replace me some day, and I think it’s time to let you see what is inside”

“That’s true?” changing some of his scales to yellow “Wouldn’t she… be better than me?” looking down “She es a lot better than me, she deserves it”. Litchi remembered how she could resolve the problems faster than him and also how good she was with the lance. Quite the opposite of him, who couldn’t resolve all the problems and clumsy with all the weapons only capable to use the shield.

“Both of you deserves it, Litchi. You just have different competences than her” kindly smiling to his pupil “I was waiting she was here too, so I could show it to both of you, but I don’t know how long will it take for her…” leaving a moment of silent, maybe questioning himself where she was “I cant trust in you to open the door” pointing at the door again with his head.

Litchi changed all his scales to yellow giving a little smile “How can I open it? Do I need a special permission? A key?”

“Once you were selected to come in here, they give you the _key_” pointing at the tattoo in his arm, and then pointing at his own tattoo in his chest “You were able to open it from the beginning. Go ahead and open it”

“How exiting…” at the same time he put his claws in the door bars to open it.

Litchi was feeling a lot of emotions at the same time: happiness, anxiety, anticipation, surprise and curiosity making his scales change color multiple times while he was opening the door and looked inside it.

An enormous room was in the other side with seven lava waterfalls fallen from the ceiling in the other extreme covering each of them the entrance to little caves, while in the center there were seven little pillars.

All this room was enchanted by an animus dragon centuries ago. The door was enchanted so only the chosen could open and close it, so anyone couldn’t enter or get out from there. The walls and ceiling were created so anything could destroy them, from explosions and earthquakes to even another animus magic; also, they helped to keep a neutral temperature inside. The little caves were created to prettify any dragon inside while lava was flowing on their entrance. The holes in the ceiling where enchanted to always secrete lava while at least one seal was missing from the pillars. It was a prison made with pure magic, a prison for seven dragonesses, the most dangerous dragonesses in the seven kingdoms.

Litchi was amazed by all of this, but there was something that called more his attention.

“Thoughtseeker?” he asked as he spotted her in the center of the room “What is she doing in here?” he asked in a curious way, and then he knew what was happening.

She was just next to the pillars. Six of them already had a crown over them, and she was holding another one.

“NO!” Frostbite yelled running and trying to stop her, but his effort was futile.

She put the last crown in the last pillar, moment that a big and strong “CLICK” echoed in the room. The unthinkable had just happened and the lava flow stopped immediately.

Litchi didn’t understand what was happening, a lot of questions where in his mind. One thing that was clear is that the prisoners were released and they where in a mortal danger. Fear, fright, terror, panic, horror, he wanted to do something, but he couldn’t think straight.

“GO AWAY!” he listened to Frostbite “GET OUT OF HERE! RUN AWAY LITCHI!”

“Run away? Of what?” they listened from another voice, a soft and calm female voice. Litchi and Frostbite looked at that direction where they found a dragoness a little bigger than Frostbite with her huge stretched wings and scarlet scales, she was a Skywing. “Is any danger in here? I don’t see anyone” at the same time she showed a grim smile.

With a fast and powerful move of Frostbite’s tail he hit Litchi making him react “BEGONE!”

Before the small dragon could do anything, he could see how the Skywing extended her arm and held Frostbite snout closing it tightly “You are noisy” she said.

Litchi could see how the silver dragon eyes where switching between him and the dragoness, moment where he took the decision to run away leaving Frostbite and Thoughtseeker behind. He followed the fastest way to the exit and where he arrived prepared himself to take flight, but a blow on his side knocked him down.

“Are you leaving them?” a new voice talked to him. It came from another dragoness, in this case a Seawing with aquamarine scales in her abdomen but sapphire in the rest of her body, a tight tail “They’re going to die, did you know?” She tilted her head a little without losing him “What kind of hero are you?” in a sarcastic voice.

Litchi feared what could happened, he knew that he could scape from her with his poor skills and low experience in combat, so he decided to use his ultimate resource just banishing, becoming invisible himself just in front of her.

The young dragon could see the confusion in her enemy face and hopes of scape from there raised, but all changed when she closed her eyes and smiled again.

“I admit that your camouflage is the best that I’ve seen, even better than Belladona” while she was stroking her hand in the ground taking dust and rocks from there “But I can still smell you… hear you” and in that moment she throw what she had in her hands.

The rocks and dust hit Litchi revealing his location, opportunity she didn’t miss and jumped over him keeping him in place. As an ultimate defense Litchi spit a stream of poison right into her eyes, but how big his surprise when it just felt as if it were water.

“I came prepared” she said with proud and a smile at the time Litchi couldn’t support more the fear and lost his invisibility showing how white his scales were.

The sound of beating wings could be listened and Litchi’s hope rose again when he saw the silver scales of the dragon who landed just a couple of meters on his side, but looking carefully he saw another dragoness, she wasn’t Frostbite but another Icewing.

“His camouflage is going to be a problem” she said looking at him while being held on the ground “Let me take car of it” at the time she grabbed his left arm with her bare claws.

That was the moment that Litchi felt the worst pain that he ever felt. He yelled from pain and started to thrash about on the ground, moment where the Seawing quite from him and just contemplate. Tears started to roll from his eyes and grabbed his arm and could feel how cold it was. He was suffering from frostbite where she grabbed him, and his scales where totally frozen.

“With those scales he won’t be able to camouflage ever again” said the white dragon now where more dragons appearing in the scene.

A dragoness with a robust body and a wide muzzle, as well as brown scales stand aside the ice dragon. With her another dragoness with appearance like Litchi but grown up and scales with a grant variety of color that changes constantly as oil in water. Aside the sea dragoness one with black scales like Thoughtkeeper stood, in contrast the one with yellow scales and a sting in the tip of her tail at her side. At the end, the scarlet dragon who fought Frostbite arrived.

If she was here what happened to Frostbite? Litchi thought starting to tremble.

“What do we do with him?” the dark dragoness asked to her companions.

“_We_ believe that the best is to get rid of him” said the brown dragoness.

Seeing the seven dragonesses in front of him and listening her words made Litchi’s fear to grow stronger. He wanted to run away, escape, not be able to be followed any more by them. He knew that he couldn’t win against one of them, less with all the seven. His horror was such that he forgot about the pain in his frostbitten arm and somewhat bring him strength to camouflage again.

“Did you not freeze his arm?” the dragoness with the sting in her tail asked.

“I did” the ice dragon with a serious face “He shouldn’t be able to do it”

“That doesn’t matter” the sapphire one “He’s so fearful that he’s still in front of us”

That’s when Litchi understood that being invisible wasn’t enough, it won’t work against them. He wished to not be just invisible, but he couldn’t be heard or sniffed, that he couldn’t be found by a mind reader or a clairvoyant dragon, not even by an animus dragon. He just wanted to disappear.

“I just want to return with that stupid king as soon as possible… ¿What are we waiting for?” talked the scarlet dragon, showing a wide and big smile.


	2. Chapter One

A large set of mountains lined with fir and pine trees was shown in the landscape, being green and brown at its bases to begin to turn pale and white as the height rose as it was covered by thick layers of snow from the last snowfall. The sound of flowing water was present between the trees where you could find a little stream with clear and cold water being a good spot to hydrate. While it did not carry fishes with it to get food, many other animals used to visit it to drink as it could be foxes, bears and deer.

The calm and peace of the area, just listening to the running water as well the creaking of the branches when you step on them was one of the things that Snowflake was grateful to be able to enjoy. In comparison with towns and villages were a lot of dragons lived, it was very hard to find a place just for yourself while in here she had this small paradise for her thoughts and ponder all what she could remember.

Everyday Snowflake started her day standing at the edge of the stream to drink water and observe her reflection to verify that everything was in order with herself. She stretched her wings to check over and under them, she checked along her arms as well as her stomach, chest and abdomen, ending with her tail. She made sure that her scales were clean, both those the white ones that covered most of her body and the ones with a soft blue in her stomach.

“_Keep clean your scales, I don’t want a child that can’t even meld in the snow_”

A lot of Snowflake’s routines was learned by the mentoring of her parents when she was a child and lived with them. Those times were years ago, but even then, she could remember every detail of those days and somehow felt that she still needed to do them to feel more secure of herself. She moved her wings after she made sure that everything was in order and took fly between the trees into the sky with direction to the top of the mountains.

The cold wind flew through her body covering and caring every part of her body making a soft murmur like it was inviting her to close her eyes, thing she couldn’t avoid. The mountains covered in ice and snow appeared before her, the ice dragons plying in the snow and flying in the sky. She could see the library she used to visit, the coliseum where a lot of dragons practice their skills, al the caves that served as houses for all the dragons, and at a little moment she could see the one she called her home.

After a deep sigh she opened again her eyes returning to the reality. Visiting her village through her thoughts was something she discovered by accident at a time she was flying, and even if it was yeas ago, even if it wasn’t her home anymore, and even if there wasn’t anyone waiting for her; she couldn’t avoid necessity to come back, even if it was just a memory.

“_Begone, and never come back_”

Just a few minutes later she could see her goal, the cave that now she lived in and shared with her mentor. As the rest of the mountains the entrance was covered with a layer of snow, place where she landed and felt the snow under her claws, feel that she enjoyed. When decided to enter she identified a set of footprints that went to the same place as she.

Without problem she could recognize the ones that belonged to Fatefinder, her mentor, but the other ones were completely oblivious to her. Something that was weird is that a set of them seemed to have melted the snow while it was walking, since she could see the rock that was under the snow on those footprints. Also, there was footprints very small, which could mean of a very young dragon or a raingwing, since those where the smallest of the species. She could recognize another couple of sets, but she didn’t image of who could it be. In total there was evidence to indicate that inside the cave where at least five dragons.

The cave was small, but it had enough space for two dragons to live in there. Two small rooms, one for her and another for her mentor, and bigger one that worked as a principal area where they could eat together, read a little, or Fatefinder received his guests.

Checking a map on the table at the center of the room was a dragon covered with dark purple scales. He was Fatefinder, the dragon who took care of her when she abandoned the ice kingdom and who she appreciated and respected since the day she met him.

By his side was a younger dragon, mustard scales with a sting at the tip of his tail; he was a sandwing. He was wearing a necklace around his neck which seemed to be made of copper, place where a little gem the same color as his scales was hanging. She could see that this dragon was interested in what Fatefinder was doing with the map following his instruction, but nothing could help her to remember him. It was the first time she saw him.

Next to the shelve that Snowflake saved all her scrolls found another dragon reading one of them, one scroll she was read months ago who described the different plants that could be used as medicament in all the kingdoms. Male as well with blue king scales in his body with a trail of dark green from his chest to his abdomen; also, she could appreciate that between his claws had small membranes that, with his thick tail, he could use to swim more easily. With this information she understood that he was a seawing, who as well as the sandwing she couldn’t remember him. Another new dragon.

At the end, at the corner of the cave alone and secluded from the rest, was a dragon with crimson scales and big but creased wings that he maintained next to his body; he was a skywing. He noticed her, moment where Snowflake could feel a serious but quiet expression from him, and then he made a little reverence with his head in the moment their eyes met without saying a single word. As the same with the other two dragons, it was the first time she knew this dragon.

One, two, three, four dragons were inside the cave, but she counted enough footprints to be at least five dragons. It was very strange where her analysis was wrong, maybe the other dragons were in the rooms, or maybe she committed a mistake.

“_How useless could you be?_”

“Good morning Snowflake” she heard Fatefinder voice “Welcome home” showing a small but humble smile. She always liked the kind way he always treated her, it was very strange when he showed to be angry or annoyed always giving his support to her. Even if the time with him was short in comparison with the length of her life, there were a lot of memories of all the favors he was made to her, but from all of them the biggest one was when he adopt her ang give her a little space in that cave, in that house.

“_Welcome home_”

“Good morning, Fatefinder” at the moment she walked in his direction, realizing that everyone was focusing on her “Good morning… everyone” she said quickly avoiding being impolite “My name is Snowflake, nice to meet you”

“Good morning” said the crimson dragon with a serious but calm voice “My name is Firecloud”

“G-good morning” rushed the mustard one a little clumsy, now with his curiosity and interest settled on her. She noticed that he carried his claw to his chest, where his necklace was, just to touch the gem and then put it down again “I am Sunspot, nice to meet you”

Both seemed to be kind and good dragons, but the way that the blue dragon saw her make her feel somewhat uncomfortable noticing a tone of disdain and apathy in his eyes, as if he were disappointed by what was happening. She felt frightened, just as her father made her feel several times. At the end he didn’t say a word.

“He’s name is Tide” said Firecloud “He is a serious dragon”

“Mind your business” answered Tide looking sharp at him.

“And a rude one” mumbled Sunspot.

“Guys calm down” said Fatefinder scratching his neck “I came back earlier than expected, but I could find everyone” pointing at the others with his gaze “OH! And I got you a gift!” with a cheerful tone at the time he grabbed a package from below the table “One new for your collection” approaching her and delivering it.

She took it while she inspected it, looked slightly to his mentor and opened calmly. Sideways she could see that the sandwing was trying to see what it was to finally reveal a new scroll. It was of a standard size, with easy she could read it in a day or two and she could start to do it right now, but she decided to stay calm and save it for later.

“Thank you very much!” answered with a smile “I… will find the right time to read it” while she continued watching her gift as she made it roll with her hands.

“Just try not to devour it, ok?” turning around to look at the other dragons “Good, now that everyone is in…” stopping instantly, looking at every direction and then watching them again starting to count them one by one, showing a concern face that Snowflake recognized immediately “Where is the small one?”

“She’s in there” answered the skywing, pointing in Snowflake’s direction with his claw “Behind her”

The snow dragon turned around surprised. At the beginning she could only see the rocks that formed the cave’s wall, but then noticed one out of place. She walked slowly to it and then noticed that it blinked leaving her astonished. Snowflake just dropped her maw when the rock started moving and after a while it changed its color turning into a dragon. Now before her was now an orange dragoness, smaller than everyone in there with a long and thin tail, she was a raingwing.

“I’m surprised that you could find me” said to then laugh “How did you do it? Fired dragon” looking at the crimson dragon.

“I didn’t lose sigh on you” answered “I’m always aware of my surroundings” looking at every one of the other dragons.

“Agreed, it’s understandable” said the small one stretching and then looking at the ice dragoness “Nice to meet you, you can call me Dandelion” giving a smile and opening her wings a little.

Hearing her name made Snowflake remember the multiple times that she saw how the wind took with their breeze the dandelions that grown in the mountains, thing that learned in here since they don’t grow in the ice kingdom.

“Nice to meet you too” answered kindly “My name is Snowflake”

“That’s a sweet name” excited “I hope you are unique like a real snowflake” in a positive tone “, but as deadly as an ice storm” closing her eyes and crossing her arms, like if she was imaging what she was saying.

“_You might be unique, but special?_”

Fatefinder cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention “As I was saying…” heading to the table “Let’s begin with this reunion, the reason you are here”

“The mudwing is still missing” commented the sandwing.

The nightwing shook his head “We are not waiting for her; we are completed at this moment”

“It’s ok for me” said Dandelion at the time she approached the table and looked at the map.

Snowflake knew that map very well, since Fatefinder used it to relate his trips or to talk with her about the new routes he wanted to test. Beside her stood the seawing dragon, thing that made her feel uneasy trying to look around and calm herself. At that moment she noticed that the skywing was still in the corner.

“You won’t come?” she asked looking at him.

“I’m ok in this place” he answered looking at the ground for a moment “I can see from here”

She couldn’t avoid feeling curiosity with why he was so distant from everyone, but she didn’t want to seem nosy, so she accepted his decision.

“In that case…” Fatefinder talked again “Let’s begin explaining our situation”


	3. Chapter Two

Along the table was the map drawn with the shape of the continent, with divisions of every kingdom, names of the more important cities and towns, also lakes and rivers. She quickly identified Snowflow, the name of the mountains where they lived at that moment, place where all the snow usually melts and empties into the lake at the base of the mountain.

Every kingdom was easily recognized since their zones were drawn with different colors to match every specie of dragon. At the center, formed mainly by mountains, was traced in red as the skywings, indicating it was the sky kingdom. At the north the ink was in black color to represent the nightwings, there was de night kingdom. To west, located in a great gulf, the sea kingdom was drawn with blue; since it was home of the seawings part of it was on land, but the biggest part was at the ocean taking several islands and the underwater zone. Northwest, between the night and sea kingdom the temperature decreased alarmingly being the right place for the icewings, that zone was drawn in white color to mark the ice kingdom, Snowflake’s original home. At the south the ink was yellow, representation the sand and the vast dessert that the sand kingdom covered. Mud and rain kingdom shared the northeast, east and southeast; right at the edge with the sea the brown ink marked the home of the mudwings, and between this and the sky kingdom the green ink marked a big forest that represented the rain kingdom.

Fatefinder gave a last view to the map and a to every dragon in there taking a deep sigh and put his hand over the table starting to talk.

“Long, long ago, there was a dragoness” calmly at the time he stroked the table and showing a little ruby he had in his claw “She was powerful as she counted with the magic by her side” stopping a little and then continue “After a while she found six followers and with her magic she made them stronger than the majority of dragons in the continent” showing other set of gems in his other hand: an emerald, a tiger’s eye, an obsidian, a yellow agate, a sapphire and a white topaz “They worked as guardians but also they were going to work for another purpose” pointing out the map and every kingdom “With them, she was going to take control of continent, a dragoness to be new queen in every kingdom”.

He played a little with the gems over the table without saying a word, maybe thinking on how to continue.

“Malachite” placing the tiger’s eye on the mud kingdom “, Belladona” looking at Dandelion and placing the emerald on the rain kingdom “, Mindruler” in this time the obsidian on the night kingdom “, Brinicle” looking at Snowflake as he placed the white opal on the ice kingdom “, Thálassa” now with the sapphire on the sea kingdom as he looked at Tide “, Mirage” the yellow agate on the sand kingdom now seeing at Sunspot “and finally her leader, Falconry” placing the ruby on the sky kingdom and looking at the corner where Firecloud was “All of them tried to take their respective kingdom, but they didn’t knew that one of them, the sky kingdom, had an animus dragon as well. When Falconry attacked the sky kingdom the battle was unavoidable, and a magic battle started between them”

“And then what happened?” asked Dandelion at the time she tried to grab the nearest gem to her.

“Falconry lost” answered Snowflake, taking with care Dandelion’s claw and moving it away from the gem “And they were sealed, ceasing to be a threat”

“It was supposed to be a legend, a myth.” continued the sky dragon “In my kingdom, Falconry is used to scare children and make them go to sleep early. But as we know now… this is a true story”

“This is the story of ‘_Las indignas_’, isn’t it?” Tide interrupted “This is something that everyone knows. You are just telling us what is in the scroll” kind of annoyed.

Snowflake didn’t like the way he said it, but he wasn’t telling lies. _Las indignas_ was a legend taught to children she read a long time ago as a mandatory task after her parents gave her her role.

“Yes, you are right” answered the nightwing “I just wanted to explain it as if no one knew it”

“You can save our time and skip this kind of monologues” with a haughty tone.

“If this bothers you, you can wait outside” said the skywing “There is nothing wrong trying to keep all of us with the same level of information”

“What is the point in losing our time with this? Every dragon knows that story” rising his voice “And if you haven’t notice, that legend is our history now. Only an stupid dragon couldn’t know”

“I don’t know about that story” said the little one looking at the gems in Fatefinder claws “Am I a stupid dragon?” looking sideways at the dragon.

The sandwing looked at each other constantly, opening his mouth a little as if he wanted to say something.

“And then what?” continued Tide ignoring the small dragon “We’re going to have homework and then a test?” making fun of the skywing “I came here to end this torture, not to just listen to fairy tales”

“I know what they can do” finally said the sandwing looking at the sea dragon “I know what kind of… abilities they have”

“You must be kidding me” answered the blue one with a lower voice.

“I want to know” said Dandelion “The more you know”

“Well…” continued the yellow dragon lowering his head “I only know what three of them can do”

“Only three?” asked the sea dragon.

“Any kind of information in relevant” said Firecloud “I want learn more about the queens”

The blue dragon snorted watching the sandwing with irritation and the crimson one with anger, then he stood up and walked towards the exit only to stop just before leaving, staying at that place. The red dragon just made a gesture of disapproval and the sandwing made a deep breath, calming himself.

“He is really charismatic, isn’t it?” said Dandelion laughing a little.

The black dragon rubbed his temples while he had closed his eyes. Snowflake knew that it was a signal of fatigue, maybe for being outside all night flying a long distance without resting, and now dealing with these problems.

In other hand the sandwing knew something that you couldn’t find on the scrolls. What the queens had been doing this time has been a secret in every kingdom where trying to spy was a dangerous task that a lot of dragons tried to avoid.

“Can you tell us, Sunspot?” asked Snowflake looking at him.

“Oh! yes, yes” Answered looking at the map and grabbing again his collar with his claw “Belladona can make plants grow, and is immune to all kind of poison.” looking at the emerald on the rain kingdom “Brinicle is the equals of a fire scale dragon but with cold, she can frost anything she touch.” now looking at the ice kingdom “Mirage… I’m not very sure” looking at his kingdom “but the rumors say that she can make you experience your greatest fear.”

“Only remain the other three” said Snowflake.

“It’s been seven years since they escaped their prison and took power” said Fatefinder “With powers like those explains why nobody has been able to do something against them”

“If that king had killed them instead of only sealed them this would not have happened” talked Tide from the entrance, moment that everyone looked at him and Dandelion took advantage grabbing the emerald on the map inspecting it on her claws.

“According on what I’ve read” answered Snowflake “, even if he was on the most powerful kingdom he was known by his benevolence and kindness” at the same moment that Fatefinder marked the place where the emerald was so Dandelion returned to its place.

“I’m with Tide in this one, he should kill them instead of just enclosing them” answered Dandelion while she returned the gem “Besides, there is no more magic dragons that could help us?”

“Where have you been that you don’t know anything?” asked the sea dragon.

Meanwhile, Snowflake saw how Sunspot lowered his head and grasp on the gem on his collar. He has been doing it several times in this reunion, and maybe it was a tick from him but, on this time, he seemed to tighten stronger than usual.

“There… there are no more animus dragons” answered the sand dragon, looking at the sky kingdom “She killed them all, with her powers”

“Is it true?” asked Dandelion amazed “It must be incredible to be able to do something like that” looking up as she was imaging things “Is that magic that powerful?”

“There is no known limit on what an animus dragon can do” commented snowflake “It is said that is unimaginable, but it also corrupts the user”

“How can I become one of them?” asked again the rainwing “I want to be one of them”

“Don’t say nonsense” Tide getting closer from the entrance “This power is inherited; it can’t be obtained”

“Then it’s impossible for me” said as she lost interest and grabbed again the emerald.

“The objective of you being in here is to see how we can help to solve this problem” said Fatefinder while he took the emerald from Dandelion’s claws and put it on its place “Every one of you were selected as the best of your kingdom, of your species” looking at everyone, one by one, in front of him “Everyone counts with unique abilities that make you stand out from other dragons”

Snowflake looked at them as well asking herself which could be the abilities that they had. If it was about her, she was a skilled warrior, master of the whip and with an incredible memory, but was that enough to complement the team?

“_We need someone stronger, not you_”

“For example, Sunspot” continued looking at the yellow dragon “I’ve been told that you have fought hundreds of battles without receiving a single scratch, and the way you use your tail to attack and defend is perfect”

The sand dragon carefully observed the night dragon to look his own tail while he listened the older dragon, maybe thinking about it. Meanwhile Snowflake could understand that if that was true, she wasn’t as skilled as him.

“Tide” now looking at the seawing “, the fastest swimmer, great skills in and out of the water” the blue dragon avoided visual contact with him as he was talking “; and you can even support being in frozen places”

That was something that caught the icewing’s attention. It was supposed that only ice dragons could support that kind of climate, even Fatefinder couldn’t support being on the surrounding of the ice kingdom. Maybe she wasn’t that important if there was another dragon who could be in there.

“Firecloud” now speaking with the dragon on the corner “You are one of the deadliest in here, and the best in fly. You can do it with the highest speed, you can perfmon spectacular maneuvers in the air as well as possess fire scales”

Snowflake remembered what were de fire scales. When a skywing gives birth to twins, sometimes one of the children born with less fire leading to a cold body and unable to breath fire; meanwhile the other child got all the fire, with a powerful flare and a body that could melt even metal. This was a problem for both dragons, it was common that the one with the fire scales was set apart from the rest because of how dangerous it was for everyone, while the one with the cold body didn’t survive more than a few years.

He was dangerous, even to the touch. That was why he was on the corner, to avoid burn one of them by accident. How could her ice breath compete with his body and fire?

“Dandelion!” calling the small dragon attention while she tried to grab again the emerald, stopping her at the moment “If that is your true name” while she gave a little laugh “You are an assassin, a mercenary. You’ve killed dozens of dragons without being catches a single time. There’s no other dragon in your tribe who has exploited your venom and camouflage as good as you”

Snowflake looked at her surprised of what she just heard, and with a quick glance she found the same expression on his companions. How could it be that a small, cheerful and enthusiastic dragon could be a killer. That was a topic of concern, of course, but thinking that Dandelion could be more efficient in action make her doubt in herself.

“And lastly, Snowflake” heard the voice of his mentor calling her, while she looked up at him “You have an excellent memory, you can remember everything that happens in front of you, you literally can’t forget. That eidetic memory in combination with your training makes of you a dangerous foe as the fight progress. You can memorize maps with a simple look, remember full scrolls with a single read.”

The icewing could felt how the stress and pression started to go away as the black dragon talked about her. She had heard how interesting her memory was for him, but he never said a word about how useful it could be. Maybe it was a chance for her to support them all.

“Every one of you is different, but you have skills that attached with each other can become in great results” he continued talking as he took every gem from the table, except for the ruby at the center “And with those abilities we are going to perform our first mission”

“A mission?” asked Sunspot “Already?” looking at the table and the single ruby in there.

“As you mentioned at the beginning of this reunion, we are a mudwing short” looking at them.

“Are we going to catch one of them?” answered Dandelion “The mud kingdom is not far enough”

Fatefinder shook his head a little “The dragon that we need is in here” pointing at the sky kingdom.

“In the ruby?” asked again Dandelion “That animus magic is awesome, let me try to free them” as she tried to take the ruby from the table, but Fatefinder didn’t allow it taking it first.

“Is on the sky kingdom?” asked Sunspot.

“Finding a mudwing in there is like a needle in a haystack” Tide mentioned.

“A couple of months ago there was an attack to the kingdom” the nightwing explained “A group of mudwings tried to confront Falconry, but they lost. In that group was the mudwing that was supposed to be in here.” putting again the ruby on the map “We thought that they killed her, but an informant told us that is still alive, and for a reason on the palace”

“Are we going to enter to the palace?” asked Cloudfire with surprise.

“We need to rescue her. We need her as she need us” answered Fatefinder.

“On that case…” said Cloudfire “Is very likely that she is not on the palace itself, but in the dungeon” thinking a little “I know how to get in there without being noticed”

“A stealth mission, I like that” said Dandelion stroking one hand with another.

“A rescue mission” the dark dragon corrected her “There is no need that all of you to go. In this assignment I need you as the leader, Firecloud, since you know that place very well” looking at him receiving a nod from the skywing “And, as recommendation, I could tell you can carry Dandelion and Snowflake with you”

Snowflake felt a shiver from her spine when she heard her name. She knew that thy were about to start at any moment, but she didn’t think that it could be that soon.

“With Dandelion’s camouflage she can move more freely” said Firecloud “, and Snowflake’s knowledge could be very useful, as well she can learn anything in there that we could use on the future. I think it’s the best option from this mission”

“Good” said Fatefinder with a smile “And just to be clear” looking at Dandelion “This is only a rescue mission. Cero deaths on the process, and please, keep away from Falconry at all cost”


	4. Chapter Three

Snowflake stood in front of her shelf contemplating all the scrolls that she once read. They were of all sizes, from the thinnest that you can use as a stick to the thickest you could use as a rolling pin; but the most important was that all of them being a gift from Fatefinder. If her collection wasn’t big enough as a library, it contained a diversity of topics, from history and biology to fiction and stories, she sometimes read them again and again, but the real reason she was there was to find the right place to the new scroll she just got. Her intention was to read it as soon as possible, but her new mission didn’t allow her, so she was going to save it for later. With care she put it at the top, so she could find it with easy when she returned, and with a last look at them she turned around and walked away to the entrance of the cave.

Everyone was outside already. Dandelion was making figures with the snow while Firecloud was drawing while he melted it with his claws. Tide was watching them from afar with an unfriendly face as Sunspot was talking with Fatefinder about how he hadn’t seen the snow before.

Snowflake could see a belt around Dandelion’s waist. It had some compartments to save small objects, but a couple of daggers in their sheath seemed to support the idea she was more than a happy dragon. In other hand Sunspot was carrying with a pouch bag which seemed small and light, practical to carry small objects in adventures.

As she walked with towards her mentor, she could see how the rainwing grabbed one of her figures and throw it to the sky dragon.

“Surprise attack!” she yelled at the same time the figures flew against him.

“Don’t do that!” he answered while he covered with his wing, time where the snow hit him and melted quickly.

“Amazing…” Dandelion said as she saw it “Once again!” grabbing another figure.

“Don’t bother him” said Snowflake standing in front of her “He’s our leader right now, respect him”

“Thanks” said kindly the red dragon.

“That’s true” making a salute in his direction “My leader” laughing after that.

Tide shook his head in disapproval while Sunspot made a light smile looking at them.

“I’m glad you are energetic enough to play” said Fatefinder walking towards them “Are you ready?”

“I’m always ready” said Dandelion with enthusiasm.

“I’m ready” Firecloud confident.

“Yes, I am” answered Snowflake looking at him.

“We will review this mission” making a gesture so Tide and Sunspot get closer “The three of you are going to fly to the sky kingdom with Firecloud as your leader and guide. Make sure to have a low profile, don’t call other’s attention” looking at Dandelion “You are going to infiltrate the dungeons and save this mudwing, and finally you will bring her safe and sound here”

“Don’t you think it’s going to be hard with a dragon that can burn anything by touch?” asked Tide looking at Firecloud with disapproval.

“That’s not a problem, I know the kingdom perfectly” defended himself “The route we are going to follow will not involve dragons with me. I’m counting with Dandelion and Snowflake help if I need to interact with someone” looking at them “And I always keep my distance, specially while I’m flying”

Looking at Tide reaction Snowflake could feel that he doesn’t like Firecloud company. She doesn’t know if that was his way to be or if it was something personal, but she hoped that this adventure and keeping both apart could calm the waters for him.

“We are counting on you with this mission” mention Fatefinder.

“As in your wings while flying, you can trust in my oath” he answered with a noble pose, as he was reciting a verse.

The nightwing showed a smile upon hearing those words, something that Snowflake could interpret as happiness and hope.

“You are going to have a lot of time to meet each other on the travel” continued the dark dragon “While you go, I’m going to make some games with these two so we can meet each other”

“That sounds fun, can I do those games when we return?” asked Dandelion.

“We need to hurry up” said Firecloud ignoring her companion “If we want to do arrive at dusk we need to hurry” walking away from the group and extending a little his wings.

“That’s true” supported Snowflake “We have to go”

“Wait!” Sunspot exclaimed “Just a minute…” as he was searching on his pouch.

Everyone looked closely at how he moved his hand inside it to stop immediately and carefully took out a folded handkerchief. He showed it to everyone and started to unfold it revealing a handbell on his inside. It was small, but big enough to gran it with a couple of your talons; it was made of metal and had a silver color.

“What… is that?” asked Tide confused “A bell?”

Sunspot looked at him, then at Snowflake, and finally he lowered his head.

“Take it with you” bringing the bell to Snowflake.

“What is that for?” asked Cloudfire.

“Can I have it?” said Dandelion stretching her claw to grab it

“No!” exclaimed Sunspot, pulling the bell at his chest before she could even touch it making it ring, as if he feared her.

“It’s ok, you don’t need to share” she answered hurt by his reaction.

“I’m… I’m sorry” said again lowering a little his wings as he grabbed his necklace with one of his hands and holding the handbell with the other.

“It’s ok Sunspot” said Snowflake “Is a treasure of yours?”

He nodded at her “I…” avoiding everyone gaze “I want you to take it on this mission, but…” bringing it to her again “Please, take care of it”

“I will” placing her hands in front of her, waiting for him to place the handbell on them “As in your wings while flying, you can trust in my oath” she said imitating on what Firecloud said just a moment ago.

Listening to those words from her, made the red dragon open his eyes surprised.

“Did she just…” said the raingwing giggling a little without even finishing her line.

Sunspot opened his eyes as well looking at her to look down a few seconds later. With care stroked the bell and made a little sad smile “An oath had to be, right?” placing the bell on the icewings hands.

“Then, you are giving them just a souvenir” asked Tide as if he was tired of what was happening.

“No, no, it’s not a simple handbell, just…” shacked his head and starting to look everywhere, as if he was looking for something stopping at the small dragon “Dandelion, would you lend me one of your knifes?”

“After you acted like that?” she said grumbling.

“You need them?” asked the sky dragon, receiving a nod from the sandwing “Please, Dandelion. Do me the favor”

She sigh “First of all, they are daggers” as she drew one of them and gave it to the mustard dragon “And second, I hope you can…” but before she could even finish she was interrupted by Sunspot cutting his own hand, making a deep injury in the palm which started to sprout blood staining the snow under it.

Everyone got alarmed by his action while he trembled with the pain.

“Why did you do it?!” asked Dandelion bringing out bandages from her belt, but he refused them looking at Snowflake.

“Can you…” said the injured dragon trying to endure the pain “Can you ring the bell?”

She didn’t understand why he asked it, she just wanted to apply the bandages to his hand. She looked to everyone trying to know what to do, and finally she grabbed the bell and shook it making a soft ring looking at him.

He made a deep sigh and the blood stopped dripping from his hand, thing that everyone noticed. He made a soft smile and used the snow under him to clean his hand revealing that the wound has banished.

“How did you do that?” asked Dandelion, holding his hand inspecting it.

“It was the bell” said Firecloud “Is it…?”

“An animus object” ended the sand dragon looking at him, and the Dandelion who released his hand.

“What is an animus object?” asked Dandelion looking at the handbell.

“Is an object that was charmed by an animus dragon” Fatefinder talked.

“That means it is worth a lot” Dandelion thinking.

“Where?” asked Tide with a serious tone “Where did you get it?”

“It…” answered as he grabbed his necklace “My master… he gave it to me for this adventure” looking at Tide “He thought it would be of great help”

“How does it work?” asked Firecloud.

“Anyone who hears the clink will be healed of any wound that they have” as he looked at the bell “From a simple cut, a burn, or even if you are pierced by a weapon”

“Anyone who hears it” said Snowflake shaking it again, making it clink again “Even your foe?”

“Indeed” answered him “Anyone who hear it”

“Why would you want to heal your foe?” said the seawing again.

“I think that animus dragon was very benevolent” argument snowflake looking at the blue dragon “At least one animus dragon was a good one” Tide looked away while she could see that a little smile appeared again on Sunspot “Thanks for giving this to us, it’s gonna help us on an emergency”

“You’re welcome” he cheerfully answered.

“You don’t need to worry about burning us anymore” said Dandelion joking at Firecloud “We have the panacea”

“Does it cure diseases as well?” asked Firecloud avoiding the raingwing joke.

“Sorry” shaking his head “It only cures injuries”

“Nothing is perfect” rainwing raising her shoulders.

“Thank you, Sunspot” Fatefinder grateful, looking at the snowing at his sideways “Now I can relax a little”

“That’s why we are a team, isn’t it?” Dandelion spoke “To support each other” looking at Tide as well, who avoided her sight.

“You are right” Firecloud supporting her this time.

“Now we are ready” said Snowflake motivated, wrapping the bell and looking at everyone one more time.

“Take care” said Sunspot to the three of them, grabbing the necklace with his claws.

“We’ll be waiting for you” Fatefinder with a kind smile.

“Let’s go” Firecloud opened his wings and with a flutter he rose to the sky.

“I’ll smell you latter” said Dandelion following the red dragon.

Snowflake look at the sky and flapping her wings followed his friends, leaving behind his home, a pair of new friends and, most importantly, Fatefinder.


	5. Chapter Four

Firecloud led the group by staying ahead with considerable distance between them as Snowflake and Dandelion were at the same height following him. The sun was already at the top of the sky where Snowflake started to feel how her scales began to getting warmer and, considering they have been flying several hours, how her wings seem heavier from fatigue.

The skywing seemed to realize his companions’ fatigue and, approaching them, commented that half the way was still needed, but that they could go down to rest since they had made a good time so far. Dandelion accepted the proposal immediately and Snowflake agreed too, to which the three dragons went down to a small clearing under them.

Dandelion began to stretch his body when she reached the ground, relaxing and resting. On the other hand, Firecloud took a distance from them where Snowflake could see how the grass under his claws burned as he walked. Snowflake just covered herself with her wings to rub them with her hands, but not before leaving at her side the bell still wrapped.

“I’m going to search something to eat” said Firecloud opening his wings again.

“I’m ok” said Dandelion showing a couple of mangos on her claws “I brought my own provisions”

“I’ll be glad if you bring some meat” said Snowflake looking at him.

He nodded “I’ll be back” taking flight.

Dandelion offered one of her mangos to the snow dragon, but she rejected them. The little girl took it in a good way and began to eat biting one of them while sitting and getting comfortable.

It didn’t take too long to Firecloud to return carrying a cow with his claws. Most of it was burned when he dropped in front of the dragons.

“Sorry, I can’t avoid it” said the male dragon closing and opening his claws “But you can have the stomach and the back legs” pointing those parts, which were intact.

“We can share” said Snowflake getting closer.

“Don’t worry about me, I’m used to eat burned food”

Snowflake could easily imagine why he said it. If he needed to use his claws to eat his food should arrive roasted or burned to his mouth. That also means he couldn’t read any scrolls, since he would burn them at contact. Having a body like fire seemed to be impractical in everyday life, she couldn't imagine living like that for the rest of her life.

She accepted the part that left him starting to eat, while he took pieces of the part that corresponded to him.

“Can I ask you something?” talked Firecloud looking at her.

“What happen?” she answered with curiosity.

“The phrase that you told to Sunspot” he explained himself “Why did you said it to him?”

“Oh, about that…” she said lowering his head and thinking his answer “The truth is… I liked when I heard it from you, and I just repeated it” pausing a little “I thought he needed support, and those words…”

“I see” he said taking a bite of his meat “Do you know what they mean?”

She shook her head, looking at him.

“Those words are from my kingdom” he said “This phrase ... this motto, is used when you say it with all your heart, even putting your life before it”

She saw the bell from afar and thought about it “Okay, I will fulfill it that way” with a smile, which also made Firecloud smile.

“I know all about this motto is emotional” started talking Dandelion behind Snowflake “But, did you not think it was suspicious?”

“Suspicious?” questioned the skydragon.

“All about this thing” with the bell on her claws.

Snowflake was distracted with her food and couldn’t see her approaching the treasure that Sunspot gave to her.

“Don’t worry, I’m not gonna hurt it” examining it.

“Why do you think is suspicious?” asked Snowflake.

“He didn’t allow me to touch it” answered and making it clink a little, thing that made the dragons’ wings feel rested “I could understand about the fire boy, you can melt it, but me? The smallest and harmless?”

“You are an assassin” said the white dragon “That’s the opposite of harmless”

“I’m a mercenary, that’s different” defended herself “But my question is… Why would he care so much about an object his mentor just gave to him before leaving?”

“Animus objects are very scarce, and even more now that there are no more animus dragons” talked the sky dragon “Maybe he was just taking care of it”

“At a level that a little dragon can’t touch it?” asked again the little dragoness.

What Dandelion was saying made sense. Sunspot acted like his live depended on that, but he ended up giving it to them on this adventure. He confessed it was his treasure, but how could it be his treasure if he said it was given to him just before this adventure.

“Maybe his mentor was someone really special to him” answered the snow dragon.

“I was thinking about that too, it could be” admit her.

“Every one of us has his own secrets” said the red dragon “You need to respect them”

“Really?” asked de rain dragon with a grin on her face “Would you tell us about yours?”

“Only if you tell us your true name” defended himself.

“Never!” she said changing the color of her scales to a red one, simulating being angry but still with a smile on her face “And what about you, Snowflake? Tell us one of your secrets”

“Me?” asked surprised “A secret of mine?”

“Just a little one” motivating her.

“You don’t have to tell her” recommended the skywing.

Unconsciously Snowflake began to remember most things that had happened to her and, more importantly, that she had done. Since she was a child until she left the ice kingdom. A few of things she was proud of but also a lot of things she was ashamed of. If she had to answer that question, what could be the right answer between all the possibilities?

“Snowflake?” asked Firecloud worried, seeing that she didn’t react lost in her thoughts.

“I killed my father” she answered in a low voice, but loud enough for the others to hear.

“You what?!” asked again Firecloud, shocked.

“Oh my!” almost yelled Dandelion with happiness “I’m not the only warrior in our team”

“I mean, I think I made it” she said avoiding their eyes “I… I’m not sure”

“Do you want to talk about it?” asked Firecloud with regard, to what she shook her head.

“Boring” said the small one “What about you Firecloud? Have you killed someone?” now looking at him “With your scales it should be very easy”

“I already told you, first your true name”

Both continued talking, but Snowflake thoughts continued to flutter in her head making her ignore her companions. The body of his father on the floor, blood sprouting from his eye and multiple wounds, the smell of metal and the snow tinted blue. At that moment would be very useful Sunspot’s handbell.

“Did you see what you did?” she heard Dandelion “You broke her”

“Me?” offended “You were the one who asked her”

“I’m sorry guys” answered the icewing rubbing her head “I usually get lost in my memories”

“Is it frequent?” asked Firecloud.

She nodded “I can't forget, so my memories come in different ways” looking at her claws “Sometimes is a color, sometimes is a sound. Sometimes is a reaction, sometimes is a word. I think is easy to trigger my memories”

“It’s better to talk about it” said the rainwing.

“Aside of jokes” looking sidewides the small dragon “If you want to talk about anything, you can count on us”

“Thank you” she answered with a little smile, while she wrapped again the bell “When I feel better, I’m going to tell you”

He nodded, understanding.

“Now stop talking and let’s finish our food” commanded him pointing at Dandelion’s mango and the rest of the cow “We need to arrive before nightfall”

In silences the three of them continued whit their food until they finished. After cleaning the place, they set off for the sky kingdom in the same formation that they arrived. Snowflake could feel her wings lighter than a few moments ago, for which she thanked the time they got to rest.

The sun started to set when Firecloud clarified that they were about to arrive, moment where the mountains began to grow and become more common. Snowflake could see at the distance little flying spots around the biggest mountain, spots that were supposed to be dragons and a mountain that was supposed to be the palace. With indications the three dragons lowered their height and arrived at an isolated place surrounded by rocks bigger than them.

“And here we are” said the skywing looking around.

“I don’t know you, but for me it seems something afar from the palace” said Dandelion looking at the mountain.

“It’s so they can’t see us, isn’t it?” said Snowflake.

Firecloud shook his head as he was walking, pressing and inspected the rocks “Long ago, the skywings thought that the kingdom could be under attack” explaining “So they created different passages to escape”

“It didn’t work very well, isn’t it?” Dandelion looking at him, referring when Falconry attacked.

He just omitted that comment and continued “The trick in here is that they were made with magic” as he drew a circle in one of the rocks and wrote a strange code in there. At that moment the rock before him disappeared, revealing a hidden staircase that went deeper inside the mountain.

Snowflake was surprised at it; she couldn’t imagine that it was hidden just before of them. He made a sign to enter and follow him, thing that both dragonesses did immediately while the passage closed at the time the three of them crossed the entrance. A lot of little rocks started to glow inside the new cave which illuminate the way. Dandelion tried to get one of them out of the wall, but Firecloud’s gaze stopped her.

“This was made by an animus dragon, as you can imagine” explained the red dragon “It was presumably the same animus dragon that sealed ‘_Las indignas_’. He made a lot of them all over the palace, and this one leads directly to the dungeons”

“Really convenient” thought out loud snowflake.

“Only a few of us know about them, and even a fewer know the code to open them” explained even more “Did you saw the symbols that I wrote?” asked to Snowflake, who answered affirmatively “The circle is just the protocol, but the symbol indicates how many dragons can cross the gate. After they cross it, it closes automatically”

“What is the biggest number?” asked Dandelion.

“Ten is the limit that I know” he said “When we come back, I’m going to teach you every symbol Snowflake”

“Thanks” she said gratefully.

“What about me?!” replied the rainwing.

“It is not allowed to put murderers to the palace” the skywing with a playful tone.

“I’m not a murderer!”

After a while they arrived to a chamber, big enough to shelter ten or eleven adult dragons, illuminated with the same rocks from the hall and another staircase at the other end which led to a wall.

“Right here is the exit to the dungeons” pointing at the end of the little staircase “Now listen carefully, I’m gonna open it in a way that after five dragons crosses it will close”

“Five?” asked Snowflake.

“Two coming out and three coming it”

“That way we can only return with the damsel in distress” Dandelion understanding the plan.

“Only two of us?” asked again the ice dragon.

“I’m staying here” answered Firecloud “The dungeons are narrow, and I don’t want to hurt you on an emergency. Further, I don’t want them to see me”

“Got it” confirmed the rainwing “Only Snowflake and I”

“That’s right” he said as he approached the wall and started to draw “You are going to need to check every cell, so be careful” while the wall disappeared and revealed a hall behind it. He left the exit and let his teammates get out from there.

On the other side they encountered a large hall made of the same rock as the secret passage, with torches on the walls illuminating the place. Both walked fast, trying not to make any noise, as they encountered holes on the walls that worked as cells. Some of them where empty, others had dragons inside, but there wasn’t the mudwing they came after.

After searching and searching they ran into a divided path, one was heading to the left and the other to the right, from which a shadow of someone walking towards that place was seen. They could see the head of a skywing guard doing his routine, without knowing what awaited him.

Dandelion used her scales to camouflage herself and banished. If it wasn’t for Snowflake’s memory, and how she captured every second, she couldn’t see her friend moving fast against him, moment when she pay attention to her victim.

A male dragon dressing a silver armor which covered large part of his body. His arms, legs, back, tail, head, and part of his wings was covered with it, but it had places where a weapon could go through. Under all that metal there were pale scales which could be a kind of pink color. But something was wrong, under that armor she could recognize the body of someone else, a body that belonged to someone she knew.

“Firecloud?” she asked aloud, moment that he noticed the ice dragon.


	6. Chapter Five

That dragon was identical as Firecloud, with the only exception of the color of his scales that were clearer. He stared at her with a surprised face while Dandelion removed her camouflage appearing beside him with a transparent dagger in his claws pointing at his neck, moment he jumped back and placed his wings in front of him as a shield covering and protecting himself.

“Can you imagine what could happened to me if I touched you, Firecloud?” Dandelion said as she kept his dagger in his belt “Where did you get that armor and why doesn’t it melt?” she asked curious.

He kept silent watching them still surprised, then frowned and took a challenging pose.

“Who are you?” he asked with a high tone “How did you get in here?”

“I think this is not our dragon” said Dandelion to Snowflake getting closer to her without looking away from him.

“Are you not… Firecloud?” asked the icewing to him “You look a lot like him”

He changed his countenance by softening his gaze and lowering his guard “Do you know Firecloud?” asked curious.

“Yes” nodding “We are his friends”

“If he counts us as” the little dragon said skeptically, getting a menacing look from her partner.

He looked at them again and folded his wings “How did you get in here?” asked calmly.

“We used a secret passage” answered Snowflake again.

“Firecloud taught us” complemented Dandelion.

He looked down thinking in something “I see…” he said taking a deep breath to look at the again “My name is Smoke, I’m Firecloud’s twin brother”

“Jackpot” said Dandelion with a big smile “I’m Dandelion, and she is my companion Snowflake”

“Nice to meet you” said the skywing.

“Twin brother?” Snowflake asked surprised.

“My brother is the one with fire, I’m the one without it” explained.

Snowflake began to remember all the texts on the scrolls she had read until now where they indicated that the fireless twin of a skywing does not live more than a few years. The fact that Smoke was in front of her as an adult contradicted everything she knew.

“May I know what brought you to the dungeons?” he asked again.

“We are searching for someone” answered Dandelion.

“Oh, I should have imagined it” he said lowering a little his wings “But also, you should come earlier… Much earlier”

“Why?” asked the white one.

“He’s not here anymore” taking again a deep breath “He passed away”

“He… died?” asked Dandelion lowering her wings “Well, we finished our mission on a record time” giving a nervous laugh.

“He?” asked Snowflake confused “We came for a female dragon, not a male one”

“Oh! That’s right” laughing again.

“You are not here for my brother?” he asked tilting his head.

Snowflake was perplexed by what she had heard. He was implying that Firecloud was dead, but he was the one who brought them here.

“Is Firecloud dead?” asked Dandelion squinting.

“Did you not know?” opening his eyes surprised “I was hoping you knew already”

“No, we didn’t” said the small dragon worried “When did that happen?”

“Months ago, when Falconry attacked our palace” looking away “He was the first line of defense, and she knocked him down like a fly”

“I think this is a misunderstanding” said Snowflake looking at him “He is right-” moment where her jaw was closed by Dandelion talons.

Snowflake looked at her watching a huge smile on her face.

“Smoke, let’s make a deal” she said quitting her talons from Snowflake snout.

“What is it?” he asked interested.

“If you help us to find Opal, our Mudwing, I’ll tell you something really, really, really important”

“Opal? I know where she is” motivated and looking at them “But… Why her?” tilting his head again.

“We need her to our plan” the rainwing with a big smile.

He stared at her for a moment, and looked at Snowflake for a little more “Since you are my brother’s friends… As in your wings while flying, you can trust in my oath” said as he made a little bow.

“Gotcha” said the small one laughing a little.

“Please, follow me” turning around and starting walking “She’s not far from here”

“Thank you” Snowflake grateful starting following him.

“And… What was that you were going to tell me?” said the male dragon curious.

“The thing is…” making a small pause and looking at Snowflake “Your brother is not dead”

“He’s the one that brought us here” complemented Snowflake.

He stopped dead to turn his head and look at them with a frown “Why would you lie to me like that?”

“We are not lying to you” said Snowflake “He’s waiting for us in the secret passage”

“Why do you have to spoil him?” Dandelion asked like a child whose game was ruined.

Smoke sigh and covered his snout with his claw “Let’s say I do believe you” rubbing now his eyes “I’m going to help you. But, if I find out it was just a lie, I’m going to put you inside a cell with my own claws”

“Roger” Dandelion with assurance, while her companion just nodded.

None of them made a word or comment, they just kept silence. Smoke guided them through the cells walking calmly but checking at each corner if they would meet another guard. Dandelion seemed to enjoy the trip looking inside each cell while Snowflake was lost on her thoughts about everything that just happened.

She could imagine what he was feeling. She had believed all this time that her father was dead, and if a stranger appeared just to tell her otherwise, she wasn’t sure she could manage it. Most likely, he had already accepted his brother's death, and falling back into denial would be very difficult for him. Also, why Firecloud told them that he didn’t want to be seen? His brother was here, doesn’t he want to see his brother?

“We arrived” said the skywing turning around and pointing at the cell to his left “Opal, you have company”

Snowflake looked inside where a young but mature mudwing approached the bars and looked at them with her green eyes. The brown color appeared throughout her body and wings being lighter in her belly.

“Who are they?” asked curious looking at our protagonists.

“Hi! My name is Dandelion” waving her talon at her.

“I’m Snowflake” answered touching the bars “We are here to rescue you”

“To rescue… me?” looking at the skywing with fear.

“I’m going to help them” answered Smoke “I owe them a favor”

“How kind of you” replied Dandelion with a smile.

He just looked at her a little and then snorted and looked away. He seemed to remain altered by the news of his brother.

“Did you hear that?” Opal showed a big smile and looked through them across the hall excitedly “This is just as he said, isn’t it?”

Snowflake looked behind her, at the cell that was in front of Opal’s. What was her surprise to see in the background almost hidden in the shadows an adult male dragon with silver scales and covered with multiple scars.

She felt a sharp pain in her chest and backed away until her tail touched the wall behind her “Dad?” she asked in dismay.

“Are you ok?” Dandelion asked worried looking at her.

“I… I…” she answered without being able to articulate words, at which point the dragon in front of her came out of the shadows and could clearly distinguish it. He was not the dragon of her memories; she couldn’t remember an icewing with a tattoo on his chest, he was someone else “I’m sorry… I overacted” lowering her head and placing his hand on her chest, just where it had hurt.

“An icewing, a raingwing and a skywing” said the male dragon standing just in front of the bars “Yes, it’s just what he said”

“What are you talking about?” Smoke asked confused.

“The day after you put me on here a Nightwing visited us” explained Opal “He stayed shortly, but he told me not to lose hope since three dragons would come to help us”

“He clearly mentioned your species” the ice dragon pointing at the three in the hall “I didn’t believe him, but since you are here…”

Snowflake wondered if that could have been Fatefinder, he was the only nightwing that knew about this plan. Or maybe there was someone else?

“It seems that many dragons can skip the security of the kingdom” Smoke looking at Snowflake and Dandelion “But that will be something I check later, now I need to get you out of here” standing in front of Opal’s cell “Let me open it for you”

“Won’t that bring you trouble?” asked the icewing inside the cell.

“What do you mean?” replied the pink dragon.

“How many dragons can open these cells?” knocking the bars “I’m aware that there are like… seven of you?”

“What do you propose?”

“Can you melt the bars?” asked Dandelion.

“We tried meld and froze them” Opal holding the bars “Nothing worked”

“What about both things?” asked Snowflake looking at both of them, who seemed clueless “Have you seen what happens with a rock that is very cold and heats up immediately?”

“It breaks” Smoke answered scratching his chin.

“We can try” Opal motivated and looking the bars.

“I can’t breathe fire, so you’ll take care of it” said the pink dragon moving away.

Snowflake got closer to Opal’s cell bars and with a deep sigh she started to breath ice from her mouth, starting to frost the bars. She did it for a long time to finish agitated.

“Your turn” said the female ice dragon at her companions.

Opal and Dandelion started to breath fire, and even that Dandelion’s was small and weak she made the best of her. After a few seconds they heard a crack sound.

“It worked” said amazed the white dragon inside the cell.

They tried it a couple of times until the cells started to crumble, leaving Opal out.

“Thank you!” said the mudwing stretching “Now let’s help you” getting closer to the male icewing’s cell.

“You can just leave me in here” he said looking at them “I’ll just be a hindrance”

“But…” said Opal lowering her wings “I don’t want to leave you here”

“I’ll be alright” he said with a little smile “You are more important”

“If he wants to stay I do not object” Dandelion walking in the direction of where they came.

“Are you sure about this?” Opal asked again holding his cell’s bars.

He nodded and waved his claw at her “We’ll meet again”

The mudwing tapped her forehead with the bars and rubbed her eyes wiping away the tears that began to sprout “Thank you for all these days, all your support”

“I’m the one that must thank you” showing a big smile to change his countenance to a serious one “You need to go”

Opal nodded and walked following the raingwing, who were followed by Smoke behind her. But Snowflake decided to stay a little bit.

“They will leave you behind” he said looking at her.

“I know the route; I can reach them if I run” approaching the cell.

“I see…” laughing a little “I wanted to ask you, why are you helping her?”

“We…” thinking about how to explain “There are other dragons besides Dandelion and me. We will try to overthrow Falconry”

“He also said that…” he murmured lowering his head “I think I can trust in you, can you do me a favor?”

“Anything, I guess…” a little insecure.

“Do you know Puresprout lake?”

“Yes, I do” she answered remembering the continent map “It is at one day of flying from where I live”

“You’ll see…” making a little pause “I used to live near there, but I wasn’t alone. Two more dragons lived with me, they were my apprentices”

She nodded listening carefully.

“The cave is hidden from curious eyes, but I’m pretty sure you’ll find it. I just… I just want to know if she is ok” making another pause “Her name es Thoughtseeker, a nightwing about your age… Can you do me that favor to me?”

“As in your wings while flying, you can trust in my oath” she said really meaning to help him.

“As my wings…” he said laughing a little.

“Can… Can I know your name?” asked Snowflake before leaving.

“My name is Frostbite” showing a small smile “Now, leave before they leave without you” turning around to hide himself in the shadows again.

At that moment she understood why he said he would be a hindrance. Now looking at his back she could see it, or better than that, she couldn’t see them. He was a wingless dragon, and from the marks on his back it seemed he lost them on battle. If he even accomplished to get out from the palace, he wouldn’t be able to fly away from there. She felt remorse leaving him here, but she had a duty and a promise to fulfill.


	7. Chapter Six

Snowflake hurried up trying to reach his friends. She couldn’t believe they were that far at this moment, but she clearly did the same route they made while following Smoke. The idea of leaving Frostbite behind still bothered her, she wanted to help him to leave that place, but in his conditions how he could follow them? They couldn’t return on foot, that was the worst way to fulfill their true goal which was to save Opal. She couldn’t think straight trying to figure out a way to help him aside from searching this missing dragon. But in other hand, she had just met him, why did she wanted to help him so much? Snowflake just started to run ignoring every cell she was passing by, even the possibility to find another guard on her trip, she just wanted to return as quick as possible.

She reached them a few meters from reaching the entrance of the secret hall. Dandelion was in front of them, and Opal turned back when she heard Snowflake’s steps.

“You made it” said the mudwing with a happy face “I was worried you encountered another guard”

“I’m sorry, I talked a little bit with Frostbite” answered the white dragon reaching them.

“I told her to not worry” Smoke with a calm voice “It that was the case, I would be summoned right away, and since I’m here…”

“I told her that you would beat every guard you encountered” said Dandelion with a happy voice.

“I think that would be something you would do…” Snowflake murmured.

“In any case, you are here with us” Opal with a smile.

“And we arrived” said Dandelion just in front of the entrance.

“You left it open?” Smoke asked in shock “That’s very dangerous! It should remain closed at all time!”

“Sorry, but Firecloud left it opened” Dandelion defended herself, moment where Snowflake could see a little reaction from Smoke when he heard his brother’s name.

“Is this the way out?” Opal curious, looking inside the entrance.

“Yes, this is the way” Snowflake answered pointing inside of it “Our friend is waiting for us”

“Let’s go!” Dandelion said entering and losing herself inside.

Opal looked at the other two dragons receiving an approval gesture from Smoke, moment she entered as well.

“How many dragons can enter?” asked Smoke to Snowflake when they both were alone.

“One more dragon and it will close” she answered, looking inside.

“So…” he said again looking inside too “He is in there”

“Yeah… He is waiting for all of us so we can leave”

“All of YOU” with emphasis in the last word “He is not waiting for me”

Snowflake stared at him while he kept seeing the hall. She didn't know what to say, she was very worried about what was happening and all she wanted was for both to meet again to clarify all this mystery.

“What do you think he’s going to think when I show up?” looking down and then turn to see her.

Snowflake just took a deep breath and started talking “Even if I’ve been refering to him as my friend, the truth is that he isn’t” seeing a small countenance of confusion in him “I know that friendship needs time to take form, but I just met him this morning. Just like Dandelion, he was a stranger to me yesterday; and even if we took this adventure” scratching her arm with her claws “I can only consider him as an acquaintance, so I don’t know what he will think about you when he sees you. At this moment you are the one who best knows the answer”

“Yeah… You are right” giving a little smile “Go on, I’ll open it again once it closes” pointing the entrance to the secret passage.

Snowflake looked him for moment and started walking towards the exit, which closed once she was inside. He was worried about his brother, but she wasn’t the right dragon to answer his questions. She used to have conflicts with her brothers and the only way to solve it was to confront them, Smoke had to do the same with Firecloud.

The stones lit the path she followed until she found the room where Opal and Dandelion were waiting for her. Meanwhile, Firecloud was at the bottom of it and away from his companions taking care of his distance between them to avoid hurt them.

“Nice to meet you” he said making a little bow “My name is Firecloud, Snowflake and Dandelion friend”

“I’m Opal… Nice to meet you too” she said distracted looking at him head to toe.

The red dragon looked at everyone of them as he was counting “Now that all three have returned safe and sound we can continue and return to our base” turning around heading to the exit “Follow me”

“Wait! We can’t leave just right now” Dandelion exclaimed “There’s something else”

“Something else?” he asked confused “What do you me…”

Firecloud stopped when he saw another dragon coming down the stairs behind Snowflake. The red dragon opened his eyes in surprise and stepped back a little while the pink one walked very slowly towards him surprised as well.

“S-S-Smoke…” Firecloud stuttered.

“Firecloud… is that really you?” asked his twin brother “It was true, you are alive”

“I… I… You…” he answered lowering his head unable to articulate words.

“Everyone thought you were… dead” starting to sprout tears from his eyes, but Firecloud couldn’t said a single word to defend himself “Why didn’t you tell us you were still alive? Why didn’t you tell ME?!” raising his voice to calm himself “I missed you, didn’t you?” Firecloud simply kept his eyes down without saying a word “JUST ANSWER ME!” In a motion he placed his wing in front of him and using it as a shield he pushed his brother against the wall.

Snowflake was alarmed at it and moved quickly to Firecloud’s side trying to help him, but suddenly remembered that she couldn’t touch him to what he continued to get under his wing the handkerchief with the bell inside.

“I’m all right” the fire dragon responded by standing up.

At that moment she turned to see Smoke, he had directly touched his brother with his wings so at least he should be hurt. What was her surprise to see him without any wound, seeing how his wings were covered by that armor that had not lost its shine and form.

“You are lucky that my treasure is my wings and not my claws” Smoke with an angry face.

“Even then you would rather hit me with your fist than your claws” Firecloud confronted him.

Even with his angry expression Smoke began to search the ground, to take small stones scattered under his feet “You are an ungrateful dragon!” throwing a rock at him, which Firecloud covered with his wings “I spent days and nights searching for your body!” throwing another rock “I kept the faith of meeting you again!” another rock “I refused to believe you were gone” other rock “I… I… I…” raising his arm to throw another rock but this time without achieving it, instead he only squeezed it tightly with his claws “I couldn't stop thinking you would come back...” releasing the rock in his hand to drop it to the ground.

Firecloud took the small stone and approached his brother, standing in front of him “Forgive me” while offering him the stone back.

“You are mean” looking back to his brother “You know I’ll forgive you no matter what” rejecting the rock.

“I was afraid that this would be the exception to the rule” throwing the rock away.

“I wish I had brought some snacks” Dandelion with a smirk “This show is really great” getting a look of strangeness from Opal.

“Are you going to explain me what happened to you?” Smoke questioned his brother.

“It was… complicated” he answered looking away “We received the notice and, as my position dictated, I should be in front. That’s when I saw her, Falconry, flying right to the palace”

Snowflake, Dandelion and Opal kept silent listening to the explanation recreating in their minds how the events occurred.

“She was just any dragon, I thought I could handle it alone, so I approached her to confront her without company. Everything got worse from that moment. She confirmed to be Falconry and that she came to claim the kingdom as her own. I tried to stop her, and one thing led to the other where she pushed me aside with her claws but suffered no injuries.” taking a deep breath “She just laughed and commented on being flattered to send our best weapon against her. She tried to attack me physically, but I could avoid it without problems; She also used fire but failed to reach me. At that moment she seemed to lose her patience and said she was in a hurry, at which point I began to feel very sleepy. She seemed to know and easily grabbed my neck” while rubbing his neck with his talons “She hit me with something and I lost consciousness to end up awake and several kilometers away from the kingdom”

“Why didn’t you come back?” the pink dragon “We both could have done something”

“Because I’m a stupid” clenching his fists “I let myself be influenced by this nightwing who convinced me to leave everything behind”

Snowflake wondered if that dragon could be Fatefinder and that way he recruited him.

“A nightwing?” Smoke asked “How did he convince you?”

“I didn't know him, and he said he didn't know me either; but he could see that if I came back I was going to put you in danger” looking at his brother with concern “He told me that I am a piece of a bigger puzzle, and my place wasn’t back home…” making a little pause “I knew what would happen to our parents, I knew it was going to be a consequence when I left, and I knew you were going to be mad at me... But how much am I willing to sacrifice to save the kingdom? To save you...?”

_How much am I willing to sacrifice_, words that resonated in Snowflake's mind as if it were an echo. She knew that she had heard them before taking up a memory that she thought would be something ephemeral and unimportant. Months ago, after performing her morning routine and returning to his lair, in the distance she could see how Fatefinder was talking to another nightwing. The icewing did not take much importance, she thought that the visit of another dragon of the same species to his mentor would be normal. What called her attention was that a considerable distance this dragon turned to see her as if he knew she was there, a distance where she couldn’t hear the conversation between these two dragons. One of the advantages that her "perfect" memories had was the ability of lip reading, so that when she saw him from the front she could easily understand "How much are you willing to sacrifice to save the kingdom?"

“That’s why you left?” Smoke incredulous “You really are a stupid dragon” slowly pushing his brother with his wing “But at least… I’m really happy that you are here alive” with a big smile on his face.

“I'm also happy to talk to you again” Firecloud also with a smile.

“Awww both are smiling” Dandelion putting her two talons together “They are like two drops of water. Only... one is boiling water”

“I’m sorry but… Could it be that you talked with Dreamkiller?” Opal asked getting closer to them “He told me the same thing about the piece and puzzle”

“Yeah… I think that was his name” Firecloud confirmed.

“I think he… He could see the future” Opal commented insecurely “He is a skywing after all”

“Fatefinder can do the same?” Dandelion asked to Snowflake.

The ice dragon shook her head “He is a normal dragon, no future vision and no mind reading”

“Fatefinder?” Smoke confused “Who is him?”

“We need to explain you everything” said snowflake thinking where to start.

“Thinking about it” the pink dragon again “You don’t need to explain me all this plan”

“Why?” asked Smoke concerned.

“You know I’m part of the royal guard” answered seriously to his brother.

“Royal guard?” asked Dandelion with surprise.

“The six of us are the closest to the King” he continued talking “To Falconry in this case. That’s good because I can tell you everything I know about her, but is bad because if she suspects about me I should know the least of you”

“But, if you are in the royal guard, doesn’t mean she trust you the most?” asked Opal.

“Right now, all the members are the same as with the previous kings” he explained “She interprets that at any moment we can betray her and that is why she has taken several measures”

“Measures?” now Snowflake asked.

“She cast a spell on all of us. The moment we leave the castle, the same sword that killed all animus dragons will kill us”

“Oh… that’s really bad” Dandelion tilting her head.

“That means…” Firecloud lowering a little his wings “Can't you come with us?”

“I’m afraid no” lowering his head.

“Seeing it from the friendly side we will not repeat dragons” Dandelion with a happy tone, now receiving a menacing look from Snowflake and Opal at the same time.

“We’ll come back” Sowflake informed “I want to talk with Bitefrost again”

“Oh, I want too” Opal accompanied her.

“That would be awesome” Smoke again with a little smile.

“Can I ask you something else?” Firecloud with a concerned look.

“Yes, of course” his brother with joy.

“Did they… suffered?”

“About that…” Smoke scratching his neck and taking a deep breath “Falconry was pious with them”

“I… I see…” lowering his head “Can we talk more about that when I return?”

“I’ll be prepared” poking his brother with his wing.

Snowflake realized that there were already multiple occasions when Smoke touched his brother with his wings. Although they were protected with the armor the heat should hurt him from within.

“Can you take care of Frostbite?” Opal asked kindly.

“As in your wings while flying” Smoke started talking with a little bow “you can trust in my oath” being imitated by Dandelion at the end.

“Don’t be so rude” Snowflake asked to the small dragon, to just receive a smile from her “It was nice to meet you” tilting her head a little towards the guard.

“Good-bye” Opal said to the pink dragon.

“Not a good-bye” Firecloud corrected her “See you soon”

“I’ll never forget you!” Dandelion rushing out to be followed by her pals.

“See you later” Smoke waving his claw and seeing his brother getting away.

With Smoke they would already be two dragons that they met and cannot accompany them. Although they had promised to return it left a bad taste in her mouth. She was grateful that Firecloud met his brother again and that they could rescue Opal without major complications, but there was still much that was not clear for the future: Smoke being part of the royal guard, the unknown whereabouts of Thoughtseeker, the dragons affected by Falconry, and this mysterious nightwing.


	8. Chapter Seven

A large number of shelves were organized as if small soldiers were treated, taking distance one from another allowing visitors to cross through them like small corridors. In each of them different scrolls were arranged, each with different themes that could talk from children stories to basic war strategies. Tables lay on the walls so that those curious to learn more could place their selected scrolls and read them without any problem. All these structures, the shelves, floor, walls and tables were made of ice so the temperature in this room was extremely low and perfect for ice dragons.

At the bottom to the right, at one of the tables in the corner of the room, was Snowflake reading one of the scrolls she left for study. She was concentrated using one of her claws as a reading guide and thus not getting lost between lines.

"Tomorrow is the big day" said a young voice behind Snowflake "It must be stressful for you."

Our dragoness turned to find her older brother, Yuki, behind her. He was only a couple of years older, but the complexion of his body made him look as if he had more years. The color of his scales was white as well, but the color of his eyes had a bluish touch. Although she did not have the best relationship with him, it was one she cared for and respected.

"Not at all" she replied calmly "As long as I don't think about it"

"That's why you came to lock yourself here" his brother acknowledged, looking around "I thought you had read every scroll in here"

"There are some that I have left" giving a small smile "But I think this will be the last one to read"

"Do you think that you will be ready with it?" looking at her seriously.

“Frankly, I don’t know” giving a deep sigh "Are you worried?"

He watched her for a moment and then looked towards the nearest shelf to start walking towards him.

"I remember the first days of your training, where you missed almost every indication our father told you" reviewing the scrolls that were at the height of his head "Every test you do it worries me that you could fail and get him angry with all of us"

“Then you are taking care of yourself”

"Isn't that what tomorrow's test is supposed to be for?" Taking out one of the scrolls and opening it to see its contents "Who would say our little sister would be a candidate to replace the chosen icewing" to close it and put it back in its place " Being honest, Glace and I can't help feeling jealous that they have more confidence in you than us. ”

Snowflake looked down at those words. That wasn't the first time she had heard them from her brother or sister, but she couldn't help feeling bad knowing that her brothers wanted a little bit of the recognition she received.

"Sometimes I think ..." Yuki began to think out loud "We are brothers, some of those genes that make you learn everything must also be in me, but as much as I try to read... I can't get to memorize even half as efficiently as you do"

"But you're good at many other things" Snowflake commented with the intention of motivating him.

"I know that, but I had to work hard and sacrifice many things to achieve it" looking towards his claws "Very different from you, who were born with that gift"

Snowflake didn’t say a word trying to think of the right words for this situation while their eyes met, but his brother won her by smiling.

"Do not take it on the bad side, I am not claiming anything" approaching her "I am sure you can pass any test that our father puts you" by patting her shoulder "Tomorrow you will attend, you will listen to our father's instructions, you will do them at as usual and you will approve with fireworks”

"Thank you" she replied with a smile.

"Well, I have to go, have fun with your scroll," he said, starting to walk away from her "See you at dinner"

Snowflake was about to say goodbye, but she was interrupted when she saw that the closest shelf to them crumbled as if it were sand. After that one by one of the shelves began to fall apart being followed by the tables on the walls, but Yuki did not seem to care, he continued walking as if none of it was happening, and just before reaching the exit he also crumbled. The room was completely empty, clean, only with her inside.

"You're late" a strong and serious voice was heard.

In front of her appeared, materialized another ice dragon. He had a countenance of his brother with white scales and sapphire blue eyes, but he was much older than them.

"I-I'm sorry, Father" Snowflake said, looking down.

"How to trust you if you cannot meet the least?" without receiving a word from his daughter "Let's begin before wasting more time" now carrying a sword with his claws "Generation after generation my family has taken care to choose who will become our guardian in case they return. I’ve been training you for years with the goal of becoming you the new hope for us, the icewings, and today you will take the last step to become it”

Snowflake raised his head to look him in the eye and receive that cold look he always used to wear, at which point he raised his sword and stuck it in the ground.

"As your last test, take this sword and kill me"

"What?!" she exclaimed taking a few steps back.

"You heard it Snowflake" pointing to the sword with his claw "Take it and execute me with it"

"But…"

"It's just TWO simple steps!" He exclaimed "Show me you have the courage, Snowflake!"

She raised her hand in the direction of the sword but retracted it by lowering it again.

"Snowflake!" his father exclaimed again.

How could she find courage to do something like that? He had been cruel and extremely strict all these years, but thanks to that she had learned a lot and found a way to exploit her abilities. Yes, she had prepared all this time for this moment, but she knew deep inside her that she wasn’t ready for this kind of test. What would be the right decision? She couldn't retire and fail this exam, could she?

“SNOWFLAKE!” now with a higher tone.

She just looked at him, he was furious. She raised his hand again and with it held the hilt of the sword to raise it. She didn't want to do it, but if that was her mission in life what else could she do?

"Snowflake" she heard again, but now with a soft and somewhat acute voice, at this moment now seeing Dandelion in front of her.

They were now inside a cave; night had supplanted the day and the moon's glow was illuminating the entrance. Snowflake lay on the ground curled up and covered with her wings breathing agitatedly while Dandelion sat in front of her, watching.

"You were making strange noises," Dandelion said whispering, "were you having a nightmare?"

The ice dragon took a deep breath and sat up sitting down and rubbing her head.

"More than a nightmare, I was remembering" avoiding the look of his partner "Didn't wake up anyone?" Looking around.

Opal was further asleep, with its wings and body stretched along taking advantage of the space she now had compared to the cell she had been locked in. On the other hand, Firecloud was at the entrance guarding, but equally asleep.

"Everyone is sleeping like puppies" the rainwing showing a small smile "What do you mean by remembering?"

“My dreams…” thinking about the way she could explain “Usually they are about things that happened that day or before. Today I could have dreamed about Bitefrost or Smoke, but…”

“But?” tilting his head.

“I had not dreamed of my home for a long time” with a slight sigh.

“To have nightmares sure was a horrible place” with a big smile.

“No, it wasn’t the place” scratching his shoulder with his claw “Rather... the dragons?”

“Did you dream about your father?” asked her “Did you dream about when you killed him?”

“H-how did you know?” asked surprised.

Dandelion just lifted his shoulders “It's the only traumatic thing I know about you, I just tried” winking.

“Oh, I see...” relaxing a little.

“On second thought, it's all I know about you” staring at her “Do you want to talk about it?”

The white dragon looked down at the options but did not want to involve others with her problems and be a nuisance to them. Dandelion seemed kind wanting to help, but this was something she alone had to overcome.

_“You can count with us”_

He looked sideways at Firecloud asleep to take a deep breath.

“Don't worry, it was just a bad dream” commented the dragon.

The orange dragon changed her countenance, erasing the smile on her face to see her seriously. “Remember that we are a team” she said in a neutral tone as she got up “Have sweet dreams” going to the place she had chosen to sleep and thus lying down to cover herself with her wings

Dandelion seemed annoyed at the answer she had given him, but that was better than having to tell him all the problems he had in his mind and give more weight to his life. The simple responsibility of overthrowing ‘Las Indignas’ was a great burden that all of them had to carry, he did not want to complicate the situation.

After a few minutes Snowflake simply lay back down and fall asleep hoping not to dream again.


	9. Chapter Eight

The sun was raising from the east, beginning to bathe the surrounding trees and bushes with sunshine. The atmosphere felt cool by the low hours of the morning and some birds began to sing in the distance.

The young dragons had woken up early and decided to embark on their journey without waiting long just taking a short break to drink water and feed. That moment was used by Snowflake to carry out her morning routine and to corroborate that everything was in order.

Although it was not long to be back, last night Firecloud recommended taking a break and thus be able to start the morning with courage and strength, something that Snowflake didn’t like at first since she wanted to return as soon as possible, but ended up thanking now feeling how rested her wings felt.

On this trip she kept a close eye on Dandelion feeling a little guilty for what happened the last night, but the small dragoness attitude didn’t seem to be affected in the least by being the same lively and playful dragon she had been during the previous day. Snowflake thought she should apologize for her attitude, but seeming that no problem had occurred, it was very likely that she was overthinking.

During this trip they didn’t waste time telling Opal about the situation she was in and the reason they had come to rescue her, so with her the team was complete. They told a little about the dragons that were waiting for them, as well for themselves so the could know each other better.

During this talk, Dandelion's name came out and how it was a pseudonym. Opal took it very lightly seeing it on the friendly side, and now she sometimes mentioned the name of a plant to see if she could guess her name. So far, she had not been able to guess it.

Because of the poor quality of life that Opal had had and the little physical movement she had while being locked up, the periods in which she could flight were limited, so she ran out very frequently. Everyone decided to take breaks for her, as well as use the bell that had proven to be a good way to reduce the time they had to spend on every break.

“It's beautiful!” Opal said when she saw the snow that began to cover the trees, bushes and rocks “I never imagined it would look like this”

“You never imagined it?” Snowflake asked intrigued.

“I had never left my... the mudwing kingdom” she replied explaining “Sometimes the water comes to frost, but snow has never fallen”

Snowflake couldn’t believe that Opal has not seen snow before. She understood that it did not snow in the desert, but that there was another kingdom, besides seawings, where there couldn’t snow was something she didn’t think about.

“I think the snow is sad” Dandelion said “No plants and no fruit can grow”

“For me it is something neutral” Firecloud spoke loudly so he could be heard “Although I am a little envious of not being able to touch and mold it like others dragons”

At that time Snowflake located the entrance of the cave to which they were heading, causing joy and relief to her forming a small smile on her snout. As they approached and lowered their height she wondered how they were, what Fatefinder did during the period they were not, what things Sunspot had seen and learned and if Tide had taken any of her scrolls to read. After thinking about her scrolls, she remembered the new one that Fatefinder had given her, now she wanted to read it as soon as possible.

The four dragons landed on the soft snow in front of the cave. By the marks of the footprints Snowflake could realize that it did not snow the previous day since she could recognize the footprint they left before leaving, mainly Firecloud’s.

"You are back" they heard a familiar voice inside the cave, so that Ride would show himself afterwards "I guess she is the one" said in a serious tone, seeing Opal a moment to turn around and walking inside the cave again.

“Is that our great reception?” Dandelion asked, surprised “I’m sure Sunspot would have done better” walking towards the cave.

“It was Tide?” Opal asked curiously.

Snowflake nodded as she entered the cave “You’ll get used to it” she replied with a slight sigh “I guess”

Firecloud entered giving them a couple of meters of advantage, and everyone got surprise when they saw a great variety of food on the table that originally contained Hohonu’s map. There was fish stacked next to pieces of meat of different sizes, probably of several animals, these two being the largest in the table. On the other hand, a third of the food consisted of different fruits which Dandelion approached immediately. Next to the table was Fatefinder checking the food, being accompanied by Sunspot, while Tide was away without paying much attention.

Fatefinder looked at them with a joy expression “Whelcome back!” motivated he got closer to them “Are you ok? How was the trip?” moment he noticed Opal besides the ice dragoness showing an smile “Come on, get closer to the table, we prepared the food for you” pointing at the table, in wish Dandelion was taking fruits being stopped by Sunspot.

“Wait until everyone are in here” said the desert dragon.

“I’m the only one that eats fruits on here” the dragoness defended hersels “Why can’t I take at least one?”

“Just wait for them!” pulling her by her tail away of the table.

“Susnpot helped me bringing all of this from the neighboring village” said the oldest “Since I didn’t know what you liked, we bring a bit of everything”

Sunspot released Dandelion’s tails which she hurried to the table and grabbed a bunch of grapes.

“You can find different kind of fish” pointing at the sea food “For the ones that prefer something more terrestrial we have cow and pig” pointing the slices of meat “I think some of them are seal…” thinking a little looking at the meat carefully “And for vegans we have fruit” looking at Dandelion eating her grapes “Before we begin our feast, why don’t we introduce eachother?” looking at Opal motivated “My name is Fatefinder”

“I... call me Sunspot” surrounding Dandelion to get closer to her while holding his necklace with his talons, moment where everyone looked at the seawing.

The blue dragon looked everyone inexpressively taking a deep breath “I’m Tide”

“Nice to meet you” Opal said with a grateful tone “My name is Opal”

“She knows us already; can we start with the food?” Dandelion putting another grape on her snout.

Dandelion stayed closer to the fruits with Sunspot at her side, between the fruits and meat. Tide, with a slow step, he stayed to Dandelion’s left being closer to the fishes, so Snowflake with doubt placed herself on his side, just in front of the fish. Fatefinder got himself on her side between the fish and meat leaving a space between him and Opal. Firecloud, on the other hand, he stayed a few meters from the table and away from them, looking at the food from the distance.

Opal invited him to join them, but the fire dragon denied for his fear of hurting them. The dragoness understood and accepted quickly to take a few slices of food and bring them to him so he could eat, gesture he thanked.

While they where eating Firecloud used that time to report the mission that Fatefinder entrust him as leader. Snowflake got impressed on how he narrated the trip where, even if he stayed hidden when they infiltrated the castle, he could talk about it with efficiency omitting all that didn’t change the results of it. On this narrative he talked about the little break they took omitting the little panic attack she had and was afraid to Fatefinder find out about it; the palace infiltration where they found his brother who helped them to find and rescue Opal, and the rest they took the last night. With all the minor details he didn’t mentioned about Frostbite and Dreamkiller but understood that omitting o talking about them didn’t affect the result. Maybe talk about the was something she needed to do, especially for the promise she made to the wingless dragon.

Fatefinder made some questions along the narrative, taking a serious pose when he find out how close they were to attack an innocent dragon. Sunspot was paid close attention to the comments, but Tide seemed not being interested in the topic.

“Escuse the question” Fatefinder talked looking towards Opal “Mi contact mentioned you where impsironed for months, ¿is that true?”

Opal looked down to look at him again “I can’t answer that question, unfortunately” looking at her companions “After the failure we has and they imprisoned me on that cell I lost all hope. I simple resigned myself and things as hours or days didn’t mean anything for me”

“It must have been very hard for you” Sunspot worried.

“If it wasn’t for Frostbite it would have been worse” the mudwing motivated.

“Frostbite?” asked the black dragon.

“I think Firecloud didn’t talk about him…” thinking “He is an icewing who they put on the cell in front of mine” showing a little smile “Even if he looked weary, he was very kind with me. He used to tell me stories, talk about his adventures and how he used to live before he got in there; he also asked about me and made me tell him stuff about myself the same way trying to cherry me up”

For some reason Snowflake identified herself with that. Of course, Fatefinder didn’t have scars and he preserved his wings, but the both of them had the same dynamic as Opal and Frostbite.

“Fatefinder” Snowflake talked catching his attention “I had a little talk with Frostbite before getting back”

“What did he tell you?” with interest.

“I ask me a favor” avoiding his eyes, since she didn’t know his reaction “He asked me to look out for his apprentices and if they are alright”

“You didn’t tell us about it” Firecloud expressed, thing that got Tide attention.

“I was waiting for this moment to tell you” she answered with guilt “So all of us could talk about it, together”

“I can understand why he asked you that” Opal said thinking “Frostbite always was asking himself if they were alright”

“Did he told you where we could search for them?” Fatefinder asked.

“He told me where he used to live” lokking everywhere for the map, but the most likely what that her mentor saved it before put all that food over the table “Is on Puresprout lake, we need start from there”

“Don’t we have enough tasks trying to save the continent?” Tide asked on an angry tone “Now we search for lost dragons?”

“If we found them they could be very important for our team” Opal commented “Thoughtseeker was a nightwing who could read minds”

“Without a doubt she will be very valuable for the team” Fatefinder considering it “I still don't have a plan defined as a next step, so we could make a small detour to that place and search for them”

“Great, more adventures!” Dandelion motivated, with apple pieces in her snout.

“On this occasion I think to go all of us is the best option” looking at each one of them “Based on who we find, I will give directions for our next step”

“Sounds like a good idea” Firecloud replied in his favor.

"I must eat as much as I can before we go” said the little dragon filling her snout with fruits.

“We're not leaving yet” Sunspot commented looking at her with concern and probably disgust.

“We will take a break after eating, and then we will leave” Fatefinder commented on what everyone accepted.

Snowflake could see how Dandelion was putting fruit in the bag that belonged to Sunspot.

“Did you ask for permission?” The white dragon asked the little one.

“It's food, I don't think it will bother him” she said, putting an orange in his bag to give her a smile.

“What are you doing?” Sunspot asked with surprise.

“Nothing” looking him sideways while putting a banana “They are provisions”

“You can't put anything in there!” He raised his voice the approaching her and taking out the oranges and bananas that were already inside.

“How are we going to survive without them?” pretending concern.

“Snowflake, could you give them mine?” commented Fatefinder who was cleaning the table with a piece of ice he had gotten from outside.

Snowflake given the instruction approached the shelf where she kept her scrolls. She took a slight look from top to bottom, seeing each of the stored readings to stop at the newest one.

“How did you put so much fruits?!” she heard the dragon exclaim, as well as the raingwings laugh.

At that moment the white dragon lost her focus on the scroll and lifted its claw to hold the bag that was over the shelf. This was the bag that Fatefinder used to bring small objects from his trips to town, as well as the scrolls he bought to her. Before retiring she promised to the scroll that she would return for him to turn around and go with his companions to deliver the bag to Dandelion, moment she took out her tongue to the sandwing and left with the fruit in her arms and the bag in her tail.

Sunspot paid no attention to the little dragon gesture while he was checking the contents of his bag.

“Everything all right?” Snowflake asked approaching him.

“It seems so...” he replied with a deep sigh.

“I wanted to give you this back” said the dragoness, extending her hands to him.

Sunspot observed and found in her claws the handkerchief he had given them the day before, where the bell inside it was clearly visible. He took it carefully to watch it and ignoring Snowflake for a moment.

“Did you find it useful?” he asked as he closed his claws around the handkerchief.

“Fortunately, we didn't have to use it” she replied cheerfully.

“That's good” showing a small smile and then put it in his backpack.

“Likewise, I wanted to thank you” said the ice dragon “Thank you for trusting me to take it with us”

He watched her with surprise to bring his hand to his necklace holding it and unfold another smile.

“We are a team, that’s what we are for” he commented looking down “To support each other”

“_Did you not think it was suspicious?_” she listened to Dandelion’s voice on her memories.

Dandelion was right, it was strange that Sunspot was so attached to that bell, but his countenance was what she was worried about him. He looked sad when he held it and she wanted to know why; not for the intention of knowing but for the intention to help him. There were several occasions when she wanted to mention that he could trust her and tell her anything, but how could she do that when she couldn't trust them herself?

She simply lowered her head with a deep sigh "We have to prepare for our next trip" with a positive tone accompanied by a slight smile.


	10. Chapter Nine

Puresprout lake was the double of size that the one Snowflake was used to visit at her home, with clear and calm water just like a really big mirror in which you could see the blue sky. At the same time, the lake was guarded by a wall made of low mountains which prevented to be seen from the distance.

Snowflake kept circling the lake flying over the shore memorizing everything she could capture to find even the smallest clue.

“_The cave is hidden from curious eyes_” recalled Frostbite's voice as a guide, but right now seemed complicated to take a direction using the little information they had, the cave could be in any direction from that place.

“Could you find something?” Fatefinder asked from bellow, a few inches away from the water at the shore.

The dragoness came down a little disappointed to not be able to give a favorable answer "Everything seems so quiet" she replied observing the surroundings "There is no trace but ours"

“The same I was thinking” he commented “It seems there has been no dragon in years”

“It was really boring on the south” Dandelion getting closer to them, taking out a banana from Fatefinder’s pouch that she was holding “A lot of firs and nothing of fruits!”

“Is your name Fir?” Opal asked landing beside them, who came from the opposite direction to the rainwing.

“That’s a horrible name” answered the small dragoness looking offended to her friend “And no, that isn’t my name”

Opal lowered her head at the failure “I’m sorry, I couldn’t find either something at the north”

At this point, Snowflake asked herself if they were at the right place. Maybe Frostbite referred another lake with the same name, and for obviating the information maybe she omitted something crucial.

“The rest has not returned yet” Fatefinder commented trying to motivate them “Also, we need to venue further from this place”

“We are searching for a cave, so it should be in the mountains” Opal said, looking how Dandelion put a large part of the banana into her snout chocking a little.

“Once the they return” the black dragon reaffirmed, reflecting confusion for the orange dragon actions.

They heard a flutter approaching them, being this Firecloud. He decided to descend and land on the shore so that his legs were submerged in the water, causing a soft cloud of steam to which the dragon moved his wings to dispel it.

“Any luck?” Opal asked.

Firecloud shocked his head “For your expression on your faces I can think that neither do you”

“We are waiting for Sunspot and Tide” Fatefinder answered “Maybe they found something”

“I could fly the surroundings” offered himself the fire dragon “I will return as soon as possible”

“I prefer that you rest a little before they return” said again the oldest dragon.

“Stick to the plan” said the orange dragoness, now inside the water and moving her wings to splash the red dragon.

Firecloud got wet with water but managed to turn his head so his face would stay dry. Even then his body started to evaporate the water getting dry on a short time.

“Why do you always have to throw things at me?!” exclaimed with an irritated tone, being in this occasion him who used his wing to splash Dandelion soaking her almost entirely “It doesn’t feel right, isn´t it?”

“How gross” the rainwing expressed “Firecloud’s water is warm” entering deeper waters until being almost completely submerged.

“Of course, it’s warm! What did you exp…?” making a little pause to continue surprised and surely ashamed “Its not what you are implying!” only getting her laugh as an answer.

At that time Tide poked his head from under the water looking what was happening and, once they calmed down, he started to walk towards the shore getting out little by little.

“Is good to see that someone has fun” he expressed with disdain “Even knowing that a tyrant is ruling your kingdoms”

Firecloud’s face changed immediately hearing his words, looking carefully at his partner as if he mistrusted him.

“Did you find any clue?” asked Firecloud as soon as he could.

“Something like that” moving his right arm in front of him, revealing a round metal shield. Even being made of that material it wasn’t rusted by water, and small moss was growing on its sides “I found it at the bottom” nailing it to the ground with a strong movement “By its state, I could said it has some time under there, but not more than three or four months”

Opal got closer and took it to examine it “It was supposed that one of them knew how to use the shield” turning it around to look at his back.

“I couldn’t find any mark o sign that could tell us whose it is” continued explaining the blue dragon “I even examined the surroundings with detail, but I couldn’t find something else”

“Was it on the center?” asked the black dragon.

Tide snorted to look at the lake again “I found it more at the east”

“The same direction that Sunspot took” Snowflake thought out loud at the same time she looked at that direction.

“If someone throw it from the shore it should be from that direction” Tide talked again.

“Are we still waiting Sunspot?” asked Snowflake restless.

“According to this clue, I think the best would be we inspected that place too” Opal squeezing the shield.

“I’m going to stay at the shore” Firecloud hurried “I don’t want to be near all those trees”

“Pines!” Dandelion corrected him from the water, where she was floating on the surface.

“Near all those… PINES” with emphasis o the last word “Also, if Sunspot returns before you, I would be there to accompany him”

“Good idead” Opal with a smile.

In the distance there was the flapping of wings where they could watch Sunspot leave among the fir trees heading for the lake shore.

“And there goes our plan” Dandelion still on water.

“Did something happen to him?” asked Snowflake looking carefully.

The dragoness could see how Sunspot was looking everywhere searching for them, but in a hurried and disappeared way. The moment he found them he started flying towards them with high speed.

“I saw someone!” he yelled even before landing “I found someone!” he said again lainding at the shore awkwardly since he could measure his own speed.

“Someone?” Opal asked “Another dragon?”

“Thoughtseeker?” Snowflake asked with high expectation.

Sunspot quickly shocked his head breathing agitated “She was… He was… a rainwing” looking at Opal and Snowflake to look at Dandelion afterwards.

“What?” she asked confused “Not for being of the same species I will know them”

“Where is they?” Fatefinder asked.

“When I was flying over the place I saw them amongst the pines” started to explain the yellow dragon “I think he was walking towards the lake, and I thing he listened to me since he stopped and looked upwards looking at me” lowering his head trying to remember “He stayed like that for a moment, and when they noticed I was looking at them changed the color of their scales and run among the pines” looking at them a little concerned “That’s when I lost them”

“Can you take us to that place?” Snowflake worried.

On this occasion Sunspot took the leadership of the team, guiding his teammates to the place where he had the encounter with that dragon. Since the fir trees began to become more abundant, Firecloud decided to wait over them flying while his companions inspected the area from the ground. The place was very similar to the rest of the area, there wasn’t anything that could give them a clue to follow.

“In which direction you said they was headed?” the black dragon asked to the yellow one.

“To the lake” pointing with his claws.

“And where did they come from?” asked again.

Sunspot pointed mountain up “They seemed to come from that direction”

“Now we know where we could find a cave” Fatefinder commented with a little smile.

Snowflake understood what was going to happen. With a wing beat they raised to the sky accompanying the fire dragon to explain the situation.

According to Sunspot’s guide they went mountain up, and once on the top Fatefinder divided the team to look on the surroundings, while he could stay on there and word as a guide for the ones who return from their assigned zones. If someone found something, they should give a signal with a roar, so everyone else would go to their location.

Snowflake took her task with great seriousness, analyzing her assigned zone the best she could do. She took her due time to look at the trunks, to lift the rocks, and to look inside the bushes she found on her way; all of that as if she was trying to solve a riddle.

“It seems I got on your zone” she listened Tide, who appeared among the trunks a little after.

She looked at him for a moment, watching again on his mien aspects that made her remember her father.

“Any clue?” asked the dragoness.

"It seems as if it were a ghost" he replied, leaning on one of the trunks “This is a waste of time”

“Why are you saying that?” a little hurt from his words.

He kept quiet for a moment to take a deep breath “Let's leave it this way, they brought me here to help my kingdom, not to search some lost dragons”

“It would be very useful if we find Thoughtseeker” she justified herself.

“If she appears” looking her sideways “Tell me, what are you gonna do if we don’t find her here?” with a tone that seemed more serious than his normal tone “Are you going to make us search for here on every kingdom?”

“Of course not” she answered immediately.

“Then you are going to tell him” looking at her directly.

Snowflake looked down remembering Frostbite and the petition he did to her, how he was looking with high hopes for the help she offered him. Until that moment she was positive with this quest, thought she could find her quickly and continue with their principal task, but even she was conscious that there was a probability in which they won’t find her, she kept that away from her thoughts.

“I want to have something clear” he asked again “Are you doing this for us, or for that icewing?”

That was another question she couldn’t answer, feeling how a little knot was growing inside her throat. She knew the right answer was to do it for the team, for her mission, that thing that her father trained her, but she also wanted to do it for Frostbite. But again, why is she trying to help him? You could expect it from Opal, she was locked for weeks and he was her only companion. She just practically met him, she had never saw him and just talked a few minutes, she didn’t have a relation with that dragon aside being of the same species.

At that moment both listened to a strong roar that resonated on the mountains, being that the signal that someone found something; they should go as soon as possible.

Tide looked at her carefully giving a small snort “I imagined that” spreading his wings to take flight.

“_Remember that we are a team_” listened on her thoughts what Dandelion told her the night before, when she decided no to talk about her problems with her. Why was she feeling right now the same way? Could it be that she was not a good member for the team?

The dragoness deep breath counting from one to ten, then exhaling counting the same way; this to calm herself. With her calmed mind she opened her wings to take flight.


	11. Chapter Ten

Snowflake managed to reach Tide keeping herself a few meters behind him while they were flying. She didn’t want to get ahead to not annoy him, neither she wanted be at his sided fearing to get interrogated once more by him. She felt the ideal place at this moment was behind him.

A few seconds later the saw a region that was different from the rest of the area. The pine trees weren’t growing letting see the land without problems, as if it was welcoming you to a little entrance that guided incide the mountain; that was the cave they were searching for. Opal and Fatefinder arrived a little after, while Firecloud, Dandelion and Sunspot were already there waiting for them; being the last one the most nervous.

“Can you believe that Sunspot found it? Dandelion crossing her arms as if she was upset “Why does he has to be the one that finds all the interesting things?”

“It’s a really small entrance” Snowflake commented comparing it with the one in her actual home.

“The pines barely leave space” Fatefinder said looking around “From afar it’s hard to see this place”

“Good job” Opan cheering the nervous dragon.

“It was just luck…” laughing nervously.

“Sunspot takes the lead” Dandelion showing one finger on her right hand and to on her left one “You are getting behind, Tide”

The blue dragon just rolled his eyes as if it was annoying for him deciding to ignore her.

“We should enter” Snowflake approaching the cave.

“Let me go first” Fatefinder getting ahead “If there is a trap in there, I prefer to be me than any one of you”

“Our hero” Dandelion with a soft voice.

Fatefinder placed himself in front of the entrance, which had an ideal size to let in one dragon at a time. First, he introduced his head looking inside, then he entered little by little losing himself in the shadows. The other dragons waited outside waiting for a reaction of comment from the black dragon, but a few minutes after he left the cave.

“I think is safe inside, it will be a good idea to enter too” with a surprised tone “You too, Firecloud” entering again in the cave. The first one was Dandelion who got ahead with a fast jog, followed by Opal, Sunspot, Snowflake, Tide and Firecloud on that order.

The cave looked small from outside, but now that you were inside it opened giving a lot of space in its interior. On that room the seven of them fit perfectly even taking distance between them. The walls and ceiling were made of rock, with gems embedded on the walls lightning the place with a shining like the sunshine. At the back you could see a hallway that introduced itself deeper in the mountain, hallway that Dandelion approached but not entered.

Snowflake immediately remembered the hallways they used to get inside the Skywings palace. The walls and ceiling, as the gems embedded were similar to the ones on that place. She noticed how Firecloud analyzed the place, getting closer to the walls and scratching the gems.

“Are they the same?” asked the dragoness to him.

“Same?” asked Sunspot curious.

“I thin she’s talking about the ones on that secret hallway in the skywing palace” Opal explained “Looking them closely I think they are alike”

“What does that mean?” asked the desert dragon again.

“In my kingdom, the secret hallways were made by an animus dragon” Firceloud explained “This are equals to them. I cloud say these caves were made by an animus dragon as well”

“Do you think it would be dangeours to keep going?” Fatefinder cautious.

“I don’t know” looking at the hallway that Dandelion was tempted to enter “Unless you know the spell word by word you won’t be able to guess what could happen”

“I see…” the drak dragon looking at his comrades “In that case, if we want to continue, we need to be more cautious” receiving a positive answer from them, taking the lead again and entering the hallway.

Snowflake felt curiosity and craving thinking that that probably Frostbite had walked the same hallway. After all, this had to be his old home.

As soon as they advanced in the hall, they found a fork which gave them the choice of going left or right. Fatefinder decided to go left where they began to find several holes in the corridor which each led to what appeared to be empty rooms. They had enough space for a dragon to stay in them, but they didn't seem to have been used in a long time. This was repeated for several meters ahead, until they found something strange.

Another fork was in front of them, they could continue forward or take the left path, but at their right was a huge stone block. This was divided by regions where it had been carven the silhouette of dragons accompanied with different seals.

“What is this?” asked Dandelion surprised.

“A mural?” Sunspot answered looking at it as well.

“I think I know this one…” Opal pointing at one of the seals “It’s very similar to Mudwing’s kingdom emblem”

“And that one to the Skywing’s kingdom” Firecloud pointing at the highest.

Thinking that way, in her head Snowflake could compare every symbol and could find similarities with the emblems of every kingdom. They were not identical, but it seemed they parted from the same base.

“You are right” she said “One for every kingdom” starting to point at every one “Skywings, mudwings, icewings, nightwings, sandwings and seawings” from top to bottom.

“That makes every dragon of our species” Fatefinder looking at the nightwing dragon.

“It looks broken” Sunspot commented pointing at the center of the stone, where they could see a division.

“It’s a door” Snowflake pointing the bars on each half “I wonder what is inside”

“Then let’s open it” Dandelion expressed grabbing one of the bars pushing it.

Everyone looked with surprise waiting something to happened, but it couldn’t be opened. Dandelion decided to push it with all her strength without results, the decided to pull instead, but with the same result.

“It’s locked” she said stopping trying.

“Maybe we could find the key” Opal commented trying to reassure the rainwing “Maybe we could find it somewhere here”

At that moment Snowflake asked herself if Frostbite would know how to open it. I this door important to know where is Thoughtseeker? In that case, why he didn’t tell something about it? Once again, she felt guilty for not asking questions by accepting this mission.

“Dandelion” Fatefinder talked addressing her “Do you prefer to keep going forward or take the new route?” pointing the left hall in front of the door.

“Forward, of course” with a positive attitude.

Fatefinder walked towards the new hallway in front of the door “The ones who want my company follow me; the rest keep forward with Dandelion”

Decide between Dandelion and Fatefinder was an obvious answer for Snowflake. Clearly, she wanted to go with her mentor; but knowing that Tide decided the same and wen on Fatefinder direction made her change her decision. She still felt uncomfortable about what happened before and didn’t wanted to happen something similar in front of Fatefinder. That way, Snowflake joined Dandelion team with Opal and Sunspot going forward, while Fatefinder, Tide and Firecloud followed the other path.

A lot of rooms appeared again, some of them where empty while other ones seemed to be filled with belongings of someone else.

The first room the encountered seemed to be a study room. Snowflake immediately identified it by the small shelves with scrolls and several study tables for visitors across the room. She stepped cautiously toward them to contemplate the scrolls, which accumulated dust that flew as she moved them from its place. It was clear that this room hadn’t been used for a long time, most likely due to the lack of Frostbite until that moment.

The second room seemed to be an armory, where in contrast to the previous room instead of shelves were weapons decorating the wall: spears, tridents, swords, daggers, mallets, katars and shields. Based on Opal's comments, it seemed that Frostbite was a warrior who was likely to know how to use all these weapons.

“Look” said Opal approaching the shields indicating a hole where one more shield could fit. “Could it be...” she murmured, looking at the shield they had found in the lake, which she still carried with her.

Without effort she picked it up and placed it on that place, which it assembled perfectly as if it had always been its place.

“It is from here...” Sunspot commented watching it carefully.

“Welcome home shieldy” said Dandelion with a friendly voice “Now we need to find who throw you with the fishes”

The next room was very similar to the first one, only that it was almost full of bookshelves in each of it had abundant endowment of scrolls and papers. Right in the center of the opposite wall the entrance was a lonely desk.

Snowflake got closer to the desk realizing there was already an open scroll with an hourglass over it. The sand was already at the bottom and seemed to have been intentionally left on there so that the scroll won’t roll again. Snowflake blew carefully on the paper raising a light cloud of dust so she could read it. It was about the story of the Skywing’s kingdom where she wondered if that scroll belonged to Frostbite or any of his apprentices.

“Here you are” they heard Fatefinder from the entrance of the room, a little agitated “Did you do something?” Questioning them.

“What do you mean?” Sunspot asked a little worried.

Fatefinder watched them carefully to indicate them to follow him, which the five dragons started to do walking behind him, who seemed to be in a hurry.

“It didn't take us long to find out what was on the road we took” said the black dragon “It led to another room similar to the entrance, and to our surprise another exit from this cave, which leads to another part of the mountain” going through the rooms that they previously visited “When we decided to return to reach you we found this”

At that time they reached the place where they had divided, and to everyone's surprise, the great stone door was open.


	12. Chapter Eleven

The half from the left, the one which had mudwings, raingwings and sandwings, was in the same place they left it when everyone took their path; but the right half where you could see the icewings, nightwings and seawings was open into the room, as if it was inviting them to enter.

Snowflake looked out his head to look inside detecting different things in there. At the bottom, what would be the opposite wall, were formed seven cavities not as big as Opal’s cell when she was captive. Above them, on the ceiling, she could see seven big holes one for each cavity. Halfway she found seven rock pillars, no taller than Dandelion, in which seven crowns of different shape and color were resting. From outside that was the only thing she could see, feeling curiosity to enter that room.

“Are you really sure that you didn’t made anything to open it?” Fatefinder asked with a serious voice.

“It would be difficult to say something specific” Sunspot a little nervous “We curious different things in each room”

“We didn't see something that seemed special” Snowflake commented quitting her attention from the room to look at her comrades “The only special thing I could say is that we returned the shield to its place”

“The one that Tide found?” Firecloud asked looking sideways to the blue dragon, who didn’t seem to show interest on the conversation and was looking inside the room.

“Yes, that same” Opal answered “One of the rooms we found was an armory” starting to explain “One section had shields, and we found a place between them”

“I played with swords in there” Dandelion with proud.

“Whether that or not, seems to have worked” Fatefinder commented, turning to the open door.

After that they began to enter the room. Fatefinder once again was the first to corroborate that it was a safe place, being followed by Dandelion and Opal from behind; the three of them stopped in the crowns to contemplate them. On the other hand, Sunspot and Firecloud went directly to the bottom, visualizing the small caves in this wall being followed with a little distance by Tide.

Snowflake, having already seen it a few moments ago, decided to evaluate the rest of the room she could not see from outside. She confirmed that the floor, walls and ceiling were made of the same material as the rest of the cave, but for some reason the atmosphere felt different from the outside, being more welcoming in there. She wondered how much time Frostbite spent on this place, if the crowns were his, and what function the gaps in the wall at the bottom had.

The dragoness now decided to visualize the back of the door where they had accessed. Behind it was structured in the same way as in the front section, divided into seven sections with the emblems of each kingdom, but instead of the dragons she could see weapons. In the door that was now to his right, inside the section that represented the mudwings she visualized a sword, for the raingwings a shield and with the sandwings she found a trident. To see the other half, she had to go around the door to find a mace in the icewings section, which appeared to be a small sword with the nightwings and a katar in the seawings area. The upper part, which belonged to the skywings and was divided in half, she could assemble the image of a spear in her head now that she saw both halves.

Before questioning the meaning of it, she felt something on her feet. Because of her concentration in the engravings, she didn’t notice that behind the already open door was a scroll on the floor.

She tilted his head with curiosity and held it with her claws to lift it. It was light and of average size, comparing it with the collection of scrolls she had at home; but, if she compared it with the scrolls that were in the other rooms of this same cave, caught her attention that it was not covered with dust. Finding it in these conditions could indicate that it was recently used.

She stroked along, slowly turning it, until she found the section where the paper began to unwind it with her claws opening her eyes with surprise when reading the title that was presented: Falconry. She unrolled it with hurry to examine it without and to learn the structure of the information: it had a drawing of the dragoness with great detail, name, age, birthdate, also a description of her way of being with a small biography, as well as the skills she possessed and what was recommended to do against her; all of that to end with a "treasure" which seemed to be a weapon assigned to her. At the end of this section she found the following title: Thálassa. The scroll had seven sections in total, all with the same structure describing the key information of each of Las Indignas.

“Can you come with me?!” the ice dragon exclaimed with the scroll in her hands heading to the center of the room.

"What's wrong?" asked Fatefinder when he arrived with her.

“Behind the door I found this” by placing the scroll on the floor to unwind it and so everyone could see it more easily.

Snowflake was able to find surprise in her companions by explaining the scroll and its contents, including in Tide's countenance. She explained in broad strokes the sections it contained and how it showed so much detail for each of Las Indignas.

“It will help us a lot...” Firecloud thought out loud.

“Now we know the weaknesses of each” Opal optimistically.

“What's that about the treasures?” Tide asked in a serious tone.

At that moment Snowflake realized the relation with the door and the treasures of each dragon. Falconry's was a spear, Malachite's a sword; and in that way each of the dragons had the same treasure as their respective kingdom engraved on the door. The dragoness lifted her head and was determined to explain to her companions now what was behind the door, but a knot in her chest prevented her from continuing when she turned to see it and realized that it was closed.

"WHAT?!" Opal shouted in anguish approaching it.

“When did it happen?” Sunspot asked scared.

Snowflake looked down feeling a little guilty “It must have been when we focused on the scroll”

Opal tried to open the door by pulling it through the bars that were inside the room, but like Dandelion when she tried it was unsuccessful.

“They locked us up” Tide snorted, which Snowflake didn't know whether to interpret it as disappointment or surrender.

“What are we gonna do now?” Firecloud asked, observing the surroundings “I don't see another way out”

“First of all, let's keep calm” Fatefinder with a small smile “I’m sure this site keeps more secrets than we think”

Snowflake could understand her classmates, she also felt worried about the situation they were in. Opal was still trying to open the door from inside, Tide stepped aside and leaned on one of the walls of the room while Firecloud, Sunspot and Fatefinder seemed to plan what to do. But even then, she could perceive a little anguish for each of them, each except Dandelion.

The little dragon was next to the pillars with the crowns, but without paying attention to them. As Firecloud, she observed everywhere as if she was looking for something, but it did not seem to be the exit to that place, rather as if she had lost something and was looking for signs to find it.

At that moment, the rainwing realized that her partner was watching her while their eyes met. Snowflake could see in her the same expression as last night, she left games aside to adopt a serious attitude. _“Remember that we are a team”_ she heard in her head what she had said at the time.

“Come on, get out of there!” the little dragon exclaimed, catching everyone's attention.

“To get out?” Sunspot asked, rather as if he had thought out loud.

“Being a Rainwing and living with many of them, you begin to get a kind of sixth sense” Dandelion began to explain “And if I remember correctly, you said you saw one a few hours ago”

Sunspot opened his eyes in surprise, beginning to understand what she was talking about.

"I know they’re here, with us" she continued "But their camouflage must be very good so I can't locate them"

Everyone began to see their surroundings, imitating what Dandelion was doing a few seconds ago.

“Who are you?” They heard a new voice from one of the corners of the room, a voice who seemed to belong to a male dragon. Everyone immediately turned in that direction, but they couldn't find any trace of any dragon in that place.

“Are you the good guys?” He said again, now listening from the other corner causing everyone to turn to that place now.

“If we are the good guys?” Tide asked as if he didn't understand the question.

"Of course we are!" Opal replied "We are going to do the same thing they did to the past kings"

"I like your attitude" Dandelion replied, smiling again "But if you do the same as them, doesn't it make you a bad dragon too?"

Opal opened her snout trying to answer something, but closed it again, lowering his eyes when she didn't know what to answer.

"What have you come for?" the same voice asked again, this time coming from the center of the room, next to the crowns.

Was this a test? Was there any right way to answer what that dragon was questioning them? Snowflake didn't understand what was happening, maybe all of it was Frostbite's plan from the beginning and he was testing them to see if he could trust them.

“We met Frostbite” Snowflake replied loudly and seriously "He told us to come here"

“Frostbite...?” said the voice, now placing itself behind Firecloud, who didn't hesitate to turn without finding anything.

“Frostbite told us to come find Thoughtseeker” continued the ice dragon.

“Why her?” he spoked again, now being heard from the entrance of the room.

“Frostbite is Falconry’s prisoner, and I was his cellmate for a while” Opal replied on this occasion “He wanted to make sure his apprentice was safe”

On this occasion that voice said nothing, without giving them a clue as to where it was now.

“When we find her” continued the brown dragon ", we will return with him to tell him what we found”

_“Are you doing this for us, or for that icewing?”_ Snowflake listened to Tide in her thoughts, remembering the talk they had moments ago. Opal did have reasons to look for Thoughtseeker, she was the only one who had a relationship with Frostbite.

“Would you know where she is?” Opal asked directly.

“I know where she is” the voice spoked again, now heard from the small caves at the back of the room “But ...”

The seconds passed without any of those present mentioning any word, which began to create a somewhat awkward environment. Snowflake didn't know what to say, she didn't even know if to get involved.

“If it's for Frostbite” that voice was heard again, who gave a deep sigh at the end. Now it was placed at the entrance again, where they looked at that place where they could observe something now.

Right in the middle of the door, where it was divided in half, little by little a dragon began to become visible, as if it were materializing from nothing. It was a rainwing like Dandelion, being slightly smaller in stature compared to her, who wore dark blue scales. On his two hind legs, he had surrounded himself with his own wings without allowing them to see his chest and arms; while looking at the ground without seeing any of the other dragons.

"It's him" said Sunspot, thinking out loud "It's the dragon I saw a moment ago"

"Would you help us to find her?" Opal asked slowly approaching him.

He watched her crestfallen, taking a step back as he noticed her approach, beginning to disappear again.

"Wait, wait!" exclaimed the dragoness "Here I’m going to stay, okay?" Taking a few steps back "Who are you? My name is Opal” with a smile.

He watched her for a moment beginning to be visible again “I am Thoughtseeker's partner” turning his head to avoid eye contact with her “The other Frostbite apprentice, my name is Litchi”


	13. Chapter Twelve

“Opal, did Frostbite told you about Litchi?” Snowflake asked to her comrade getting closer to her.

“No, at least not directly” answered with a lower voice “He always talked about apprentices, in plural, but he only mentioned Thoughtseeker. Did he tell you something?”

_“Two more dragons lived with me, they were my apprentices”_ she heard in her thoughts the conversation she had with Frostbite.

“He told me that he lived with two more dragons” complemented the white dragon “But he only asked to search for her” looking sideways at the rainwing in front of hers.

Tied up, it was completely strange that Frostbite had only requested search for Thoughtseeker. If Frostbite had known that Litchi was at that place, he would have asked to go with him first, but it was not.

“My name is Snowflake” she introduced herself “I am the one that Frosbite entrusted Thoughtseeker’s search” putting her claw on her chest “I want to know, is there another dragon living in here with you?”

Litchi looked at her looking down shaking his head “When they scaped… Thoughtseeker and Frostbite were taken as hostage” tilting his head to avoid looking at them “No even Swan has come…”

“Thoughtseeker was taken as hostage?” Opal surprised “Why did Frostbite send us to look for her if she also is a hostage?”

“Maybe he doesn’t know” comment the black dragon getting closer to her “Mi name is Fatefinder, I can tell you that I’m the guide of this team” with a gesture pointing at the rest “Is there a possibility that Frostbite knows you are in here?”

Litchi shook his head slowly “With the accident, he asked my to run away” looking at the floor “But at the end I decided to stay in here… After that I locked myself in this room, where they couldn’t enter” looking around, gazing at the room “When I decided to get out, they were gone”

“Is very likely that they have them confined one from another” Fatefinder said “The most likely is that they have Thoughtseeker locked up on another kingdom other than the skywings, away from Frostbite”

“Maybe we would find her when we visit every kingdom” said Dandelion “It is like a treasure hunt”

“After we dethroned the queen of that kingdom” said Tide with a serious tone.

“Dethrone?” asked Litchi, changing his scales color to a pale one “Are you going to confront them?”

“That’s why we are reunited” said Fatefinder “We have that mission”

“But… they are dangerous…” wrapping up more with his wings, now with blue sky scales.

“We are not afraid of them” Dandelion boasted with pride.

“I could read what is in this scroll” Snowflake showing the scroll she found a moment ago “In here I could find strategies we could use against them”

“It’s not the same” Litchi looking down “Once you are in front of them… Once you see then to their eyes…” turning his scales completely white “Those scrolls don’t prepare you for that”

“He is right” Tide supporting him “One thing is to read about battles, strategies and movements; and another is to apply it in real life”

For some reason Snowflake interpreted that as an attack to her.

“We are doing it very careful” said again the black dragon “We have learned from other dragon’s attempts, and now that we have invaluable information, we are one step closer”

“That is supposed to be our job” turning his scales blue again “Frostbite, Thoughtseeker and mine… and you already know how it ended”

“You didn’t have us” Dandelion with a simple smile.

“Could you trust us?” Opal asked with a soft voice “Once we get outside from here”

“I can’t let you out” the little dragon interrupted her “I don’t even know if you are telling me the truth”

Snowflake felt pressure on her chest listening to those words. All what they have said until that moment was the truth, but that doesn’t seem to convince him at all. What they could do to make him change his mind?

“S-sunspot in here” said the sandwing lifting his right claw “What we can offer you is… Do you want to see Frostbite again? We can take you with him”

Litchi changed the colour of his scales again, turning some of them into purple and another into white.

“I… I want” looking at every one of them “But…”

“It’s going to be hard to convince him” said the blue dragon with a snort.

“Don’t help, Tide” Opal with an angry face.

“Just think about it” defending himself “Seven dragons enter to his house without a previous invitation. The place where the worst that could happened to this continent started”

“Can you do something?” Sunspot asked to Dandelion.

“Not for being the same species I will convince him” she complained “We are completely oblivious”

Firecloud took a deep breath and started walking towards Litchi. He got close enough to keep distance between him and the small dragon so he could feel safe, and at that place he bent his kneel to rest it on the floor flexing his legs lowering his height kneeling in front of him.

“My name is Firecloud” he started to talk looking at Litchi’s eyes “An ex knight and brother of an actual royal guard from the skywings kingdom. The same as you, my home was under threat, I got separated from someone very important to me and spent a lot of time alone, thing that I wasn’t used to be” taking a little pause to evaluate the rainwing’s reaction “I understand you have doubt about this, that you feel uncertainly, fear, and it’s difficult for you to trust in us, but…” loweing his head until it almos touched the floor “I give you my oath as a knight that I’ll take you back with Frostbite, at all costs” closing his eyes “As in your wings while flying, you can trust in my oath”

Snowflake got surprised to what had happened. She had given herself the idea of the position that Firecloud had occupied before escaping his kingdom, but now that she saw how well he kneel she could visualize him as a true knight.

“Why didn't he introduce himself like that with us?” Dandelion asked to Sunspot whispering “I didn't know he was a knight”

Firecloud stayed all that time kneeling with his head down and eyes closed, probably waiting for a response from the other dragon. None of them made a movement waiting for an answer too.

By his side, Litchi’s scale turned into a pink color while he looked at the red dragon opening and closing his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but without an idea of how start. After a couple of minutes, the small dragon seemed to calm down, giving an small sigh to disappear after it.

Before anyone could say something, as if he was a ghost: silent and no trace, he appeared next to Firecloud still on its two hind legs and surrounded with its wings.

“You don’t have to kneel” said the small dragon, pulling out from his wings his left arm to touch with it the red dragon’s shoulder.

“DON’T TOUCH HIM!” Tade yelled seeing what just happened.

Snowflake could see how Firecloud opened his eyes and by instinct he jumped in the opposite direction from Litchi to immediately turn away from him and fall on his side. The red dragon tried to get up as fast as he could and thus watch Litchi to see what had happened.

Litchi's scales changed to yellow and white as he watched everywhere confused “I’m sorry” worried and changing his scales to blue “I didn't want to bother you”

“¡¿Bother me?!” Firecloud exclaimed hysterically “How can you worry about that by touching me?”

“His hand... his hand is fine” began Sunspot, who was now right next to Litchi with his bell in his hands “He… He didn’t get burned"

“What a relief” Opal with a deep sigh “He failed to touch you” approaching the red dragon a little.

“But...” confused “I could feel how he touched me”

Litchi watched his claw for a moment and then saw Firecloud again “Do you have fire scales?”

“Since I was born, everything I touch burns” he replied worried.

Snowflake had never thought to see his partner that way: worried, afraid, insecure. But now she understood a little more the fear that this dragon felt at the idea of hurting someone else. He probably had that fear when he lived with his brother, it was very sure that he felt that way when they first met, it was sure that it had been throughout his whole life.

“You got worried” confirmed the small dragon.

“After the words I told you, I didn't want the first thing to happen is to hurt you myself”

Litchi looked at his hand again, opening and closing it, then giving a warm smile by changing the color of his scales to yellow, and then disappearing again. Soon he appeared right in front of the door taking one of the bars with the same hand that had touched Firecloud, pulling and opening it without any problem as if it had never been closed.

“Will you let us out?” Sunspot asked a little uncertainly.

Litchi nodded “I want to see Frostbite again” looking down “I still don't trust you at all, but I will believe in Firecloud’s words” by looking directly at him “And as a thank you, I will help you in everything I can on your mission”

“Freedom!” Dandelion exclaimed running and leaving the room, to which Litchi stepped aside to let her pass.

“I really thank you for your support” said Fatefinder approaching to him “Any support is very helpful” to get out the door and wait on the other side.

“You're welcome...” changing its scales to a pinkish tone again.

“I'm starving” Opal passing by “You'll eat with us, right?” talking to Litchi.

“If you want...” replied the little boy with an uncertain tone.

“Of course we want!” The dragon commented enthusiastically again to leave “One more member of the team, how exited”

For his part, Tide only looked at him sideways to go out the door, not to mention a single word.

"He's Tide" said Firecloud, approaching him ", is a bit moody, so don't blame yourself if he behaves irritated"

“I see” he said smiling “I'll keep that in mind, thanks”

“Could you explain to me how you did ... that?” now questioning him.

Litchi looked him on his eyes and then looked down “Could it be at another time?”

Firecloud nodded, showing a small smile “Okay, I’ll wait as long as you need” to leave the room looking sideways at the little dragon.

In the end Snowflake approached to stop in front of him, who stared at her.

“I must say...” the dragoness began to speak “I came here with the hope of finding Thoughtseeker” looking away as she noticed that the scales of the little dragon changed to a bluish tone “But I am also very grateful to have found you” turning to see him again “Do not hesitate to ask us for help when you need it, count on us”

Litchi's scales changed to a yellow tone upon hearing the last words of the dragon “Thank you” he mentioned with a small smile.

“Welcome to the team, Litchi” the dragon replied, also showing a smile.


	14. Chapter Thirteen

Litchi spent the next few hours explaining the structure that kept the cave where he lived, who broadly described it as the prison that once contained Las Indignas. Apparently, it had several entrances around the mountain, all of them reaching a large room that served as a welcome room and then connecting to the main hall. This formed a large donut inside the mountain with Las Indignas prison in the center with a single entrance, while along the rest of the hall you could find multiple rooms for different purposes, some of which were previously visited.

The armory they had visited had different sets of weapons, each corresponding to the "treasures" to which the Indignas had been assigned. In this place new apprentices were prepared to specialize in one of them and learn the basics of the rest.

The room with the scrolls and tables was indeed a study room, where they had a wide variety of scrolls and documents to study, being one of the few ways in which you could learn from the outside world.

The last room they visited, the one with the hourglass and the scroll open was the study room of the last dragon chosen to take care of the prison, which in this case was Frostbite.

The next section was about each other’s rooms, large and spacious where they could introduce different objects for themselves. There was a room for each type of species, with those currently occupied being icewings, raingwings and nightwings. The one that Frostbite would occupy was kept at a very low temperature, extremely pleasant for Snowflake but, even with the Firecloud fire scales, he didn’t like it. The one that belonged to Litchi was kept in a humid atmosphere that Dandelion enjoyed, but Sunspot didn't like it. Finally, Thoughtseeker’s room seemed to be normal compared to the previous ones, with the only difference that the glowing rocks in that place did not illuminate as strong as the rest contemplating the ease that the species could see in the dark.

Next to them they found the rooms that would correspond to the other species of dragons and that were not inhabited by any one at that time. The simplest consisted of the one corresponding to the skywings, which was a room similar to the one Snowflake had in her current home, but larger and taller; In this Firecloud felt comfortable. The one of the mudwings had the biggest difference so far, where a part of the room contained a puddle with mud which Opal touched with her claws to find that it was still in perfect condition and that magically fell from her body leaving the puddle. The one that belonged to the seawings was very similar to the mudwings, only that instead of a puddle of mud this was clear and clean water with enough depth to submerge you completely; in this Tide only looked out but did not show great interest in it. Finally, a room with a layer of sand and higher temperature to the rest was made for sandwings; Sunspot was introduced immediately pleasing the weather and the sand under his claws while Dandelion tested how that same sand did not leave the room no matter how hard she tried.

“All this was done with magic, right?” Firecloud commented when he saw all the rooms “You could never build something like this with conventional methods” looking directly at Litchi.

The little dragon had accompanied them throughout this journey, always appearing and disappearing every time he needed to move staying on his hind legs covering himself with his wings, without letting his chest and arms be seen.

“You are correct” with a yellow tone of scales “Faced with the threat that Las Indignas represented, king Eagle gave orders to his animus dragon to build this prison for them” pointing his head around “The whole cave was made with magic, so that it couldn’t be altered for any reason and thus always preserve the dragons inside” disappearing to reappear at the entrance of the room of the sandwings “For security they needed guards to take care of this place, and adapted these rooms so they could stay more comfortably”

“That means the legend is true” said Sunspot at his side “An animus dragon really locked them up”

“If it wasn’t true, I wouldn’t be here” Litchi replied proudly.

“And so, you would not have spent months alone” commented Tide carefree.

Litchi opened his eyes and lowered his wings starting to turn his scales blue.

“Why do you have to be so hurtful?!” Opal demanded.

“Are you going to say that what I said is a lie?” the dragon replied calmly.

Opal watched him in a threatening way, while Tide saw her with a magnificent and fearless countenance.

“There is no point in making you understand” turning the dragon to stop seeing it.

“As if I did this for fun" the blue dragon spinning his eyes.

“I’m sorry about the subject” Snowflake said, trying to change the topic a little “But you said there was a dragon of each species ... Why are there only three rooms occupied, instead of seven?”

Litchi turned his head a little and took a deep breath trying to relax.

“When Eagle passed away, the number of guardians assigned to this task fell to two” commented the little dragon “And little by little the kingdom forgot about this task” lowering the look to the ground “In a way, this prison were also one for the designated guardians” looking at the walls and ceiling “Being day and night in this place began to overshadow the vows of one of the dragons, he wanted to leave here. So they came to a deal” giving a small pause “Contemplating that after them there would be no one to take care of this place, he would go out around the world and get two young dragons to be trained and educated, so that they became the next guardians. One of them could leave at the moment he got the two new dragons, and the other could leave until he was ensured that the two dragonets were ready to replace them; repeating this tradition generation after generation” giving a deep sigh to watch Snowflake “Dove was the one who adopted us, Thoughtseeker and me, being orphans; and Frostbite is the one who has taken care of us, educated and trained since we arrived here”

“Dove…” commented Frostbite thinking out loud “You had already mentioned that name before”

“Dove is a dragoness that belongs to the Skywings” kindly replied “She was the one who decided to go for the two dragons and be free as soon as possible” with a small sigh “Sometimes she visited us, but since the incident..."

A little silence was generated, with Litchi looking at the floor thoughtfully. Snowflake glanced sideways at his companions who paid close attention to the little dragon, except for Dandelion who kept playing with the sand and Tide who watched her. Clearly the atmosphere had become tense with the comments that the sea dragon had made, and you could appreciate the little care he had related to the feelings of others. Maybe Tide belonged to the Seawings, and maybe she exaggerated by saying that he looked like her father, but this same environment is what he generated every time he appeared before her and her brothers.

“Where am I going to sleep?” Dandelion interrupted Snowflake’s thoughts.

“Oh, mhhh...” Litchi murmured placing his right claw under his chin “Everyone can sleep in the room that belongs to his species” with a small smile.

“A room for the two of us?” Dandelion showing a smile and winking at the other rainwing.

“Oh no, no!” He shook his head quickly turning his scales pink “I can sleep in the prison; I’m used to it”

“You could sleep with Sunspot” said Opal.

“Won’t it be hot?” asked the yellow dragon a little worried.

“Dandelion seems to like it” Opal watching her companion still playing with the sand “She can keep that room”

“Nobody takes my room from me!” she exclaimed running to Litchi's old room entering her.

“I don't need to sleep with someone else” said Litchi turning his scales blue again.

"It could be with me" Fatefinder offered himself “I think my room is better than Sunspot’s”

“Firecloud’s is too” Dandelion from her now room.

“He can’t be with me!” Exclaimed the scarlet dragon frowning.

“Then it’s decided” Fatefinder with a smile.

“I already said that I don’t need to sleep with company!” Litchi exclaimed raising his voice a little “I can sleep without problems in the prison, I am the one who can open and close the doors, so it is ideal for me"

“But you said it” said Fatefinder in a calm tone “It's a prison, not a bedroom” Approaching the room that belonged to him to see inside “I can somehow understand how you’ve lived, and I know you need to change your environment” Seeing at him “I regret this question, but ... Why do you think you deserve to sleep inside a prison?”

“Ah... I...” lowering his gaze turning his blue scales again.

_“Why do you think you deserve to have been banished?”_ Snowflake heard in her memories the Fatefinder words. At first, she thought that it had been something that only she had been questioned but hearing that he was now addressing someone else indicated otherwise. Perhaps it was a recurring question in his repertoire, but she still understood that he did not formulate it carless, there was a specific reason. Snowflake initially thought she deserved to have been banished as a result of what she had made, but after months of work she understood that this was not entirely true.

“It’s fine if you don’t know what to answer” said the nightwing again “But now you're part of our team, and I’d like you to integrate a little more with us”

Litchi watched him carefully and then averted his eyes “It’s fine” lowering the blue tone of his scales “But ... Could you be with Firecloud?”

“With me?!” The scarlet dragon surprised.

“I guess so, but why with him?” Curious Fatefinder.

“With Frostbite I learned to respect the space of my superiors” looking into his eyes.

“Superior?” now being him the surprised dragon “I can be the oldest, but I am not superior to you”

“Then why do I follow your orders?” Dandelion asked from the entrance of her room.

“Indirectly you are” Opal said “You are the one who organizes and look over us, therefore: you are the leader”

“I would think more like a guide” finding it strange and watching them one by one and then giving a sigh with a smile “Okay, I’m your leader” turning to see Litchi “Then with Firecloud...” to observe sideways to the skywing who showed concern “I don’t know how you did it, but he’s still worried about hurting you”

Litchi watched the red dragon realizing that “I said I was going to believe in his words, that’s why I’m going to trust”

“I could sleep with you too” said Sunspot trying to support.

“I want a sleepover too” Dandelion complained.

“Better leave it that way” Firecloud replied, rubbing his face with his claw “Don’t fuss her”

“Are you okay with it?” Snowflake asked the fire dragon.

He took a deep breath with his eyes closed to begin to calm down “I gave my word as a knight, so I’ll keep it”

“Thank you” Litchi with a smile and some orange scales on it.

Snowflake was curious how Firecloud had accepted it so easily. He always lived in fear of hurting others, he was always on the defensive making distance with everyone, but now he had been entrusted to share a room with someone else. This should be a very complicated task for him, but he built up courage to confront her and move on. Would she be able to do something like that too?


End file.
